Interim coach Dean Young admits being dumbfounded after several game-defining calls went against St George Illawarra in their 24-16 loss to Canberra.
Languishing in 16th place with their finals hopes on life support, the Raiders knew only a win on Sunday at a bleak GIO Stadium could help save their disappointing minor premiership defence.
They couldn't have made a poorer start as the Dragons dominated the opening 40 minutes, although they struggled to seriously punish the home team and took a 10-6 lead into the break.
After the break, Canberra emerged from the sheds firing, and two runaway tries for winger Xavier Savage laid the platform for victory.
In the lead-up to Savage's second try, it looked like centre Simi Sasagi had knocked the ball on while trying to intercept a lofty pass, before it fell into the winger's hands.
But the Bunker awarded Savage the try, leaving the Raiders bemused and St George co-captain Damien Cook fuming.
"To be honest, it was pretty disappointing, but if I can sum it up, even the Canberra Raiders team were pretty shocked at the decision," Cook said.
"It's not just affecting us in games, (it's affecting) the fans as well. They deserve better."
Young said the officials didn't tell him why Savage's try was given, but he was also left confused by an earlier decision not to award Dragons centre Valentine Holmes a four-pointer.
"They (the Bunker) said two people are competing for the ball ... but Savage was behind Val (and) shoved him in the back," Young said.
"The execution's on us. We've got to own that, but I'm very disappointed in a couple of the Bunker calls."
Tyrell Sloan gave St George hope when Holmes broke through the Raiders' defence and handed it off to the winger in the 70th minute, but minutes later interchange Tom Starling scurried over to seal the victory.
Canberra will be hoping Savelio Tamale hasn't caught a serious case of the yips.
The winger made a sea of errors before coach Ricky Stuart took him off in the 32nd minute after his opposing winger Setu Tu soared above him to score.
It's the second time the 21-year-old has struggled with game confidence, having produced a similar performance in April, which relegated him to the NSW Cup squad.
"He's struggling ... feeling the way he felt was an awful feeling on the sideline," Stuart said.
"I could feel the tenseness and the nerves going through Sav, and I just had to do him a favour.
"A lot of these (players) are young kids ... we've made a decision to go down the path of making, creating our own marquee players.
"But there's always going to be some pain before the success."
