Bennett bemused by twin sin bins in Dolphins win

Wayne Bennett can't understand why his halfback Sean O'Sullivan was sin-binned, while he also thought the binning of Canberra's Hudson Young was unnecessary.

WAYNE BENNETT.
WAYNE BENNETT. Picture: Ryan Pierse/Getty Images

Dolphins halfback Sean O'Sullivan's sin-binning has left coach Wayne Bennett scratching his head after his side's latest NRL triumph.

With scores locked 14-14, O'Sullivan was marched with just six minutes to play against Canberra in Redcliffe on Saturday.

There was bemusement from both camps when he was given his orders, referee Todd Smith deeming O'Sullivan had hit Corey Harawira-Naera late and high after the back-rower had put a kick in behind the defensive line while running at full pace.

That call followed a sin bin for Raiders back-rower Hudson Young, who was caught out of position at marker but still tackled Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow and prevented him from scoring.

Bennett's men had the final say, Tabuai-Fidow crossing for his second to ensure the Dolphins became just the third team to win their first two NRL games.

An earlier try to Tom Gilbert, who had jostled with Matthew Timoko for a loose ball and then scored, also raised eyebrows.

Raiders coach Ricky Stuart wasn't biting, but Bennett thought both late sin bin decisions were incorrect.

"I'm not sure where that was all going," he said.

"Sean couldn't get out of his road; he (Harawira-Naera) kicked the ball running flat out at Sean, who was going the opposite direction on the same line.

"It's just two players making a collision and at the end of the day our game is a collision game and they've got to recognise that.

"The other one (on Young) was pretty tough on them as well.

"It's a huge price to pay, 10 in the bin. If they'd done two or three in a row, but that was just a one-off."

The Raiders began their season with a one-point loss to North Queensland.

Captain Elliot Whitehead said rather than question the Gilbert call, they needed to work on their kick defence.

"The last two weeks there's been some tries against us through kicks and it's something we'll have to fix," he said.

"We're putting effort into defence and not getting broken down and scoring off kicks and it's costing us points."

Dolphins hooker Jeremy Marshall-King was also reported and sin-binned for a hip-drop tackle on Corey Horsburgh.