St George Illawarra coach Nathan Brown has vowed he will never again criticise a referee after his latest outburst aimed at leading whistleblower Steve Clark cost the joint-venture club a $15,000 fine from the NRL.

After watching his side cop what he believed was a bum deal from Clark in Friday night's loss to Parramatta, Brown launched into a tirade in which he claimed the veteran referee had "hammered" the Dragons ever since he was abused by the Kogarah crowd after a 1998 finals match.

It is the second time in little over a year Brown has voiced his displeasure with Clark's handling of Dragons matches with the coach copping a $10,000 fine for a similar rant after a victory over Manly at Brookvale Oval in July 2005.

But there was only remorse from Brown, who said he and the players were hellbent on turning around their bad-boy image with the game's officialdom.

"I'll be copping the referees decision, not only from this but in the future," said Brown, adding he would not have a problem if Clark was appointed to control a Dragons match in the future.

"I can guarantee the coach, the coaching staff and Dragons players will not have any issues with any match officials be it the referee or touch judge in the future.

"I'll be copping (the fine) as the players will be copping anything that goes against them on the field."

While Brown was apologetic, he will be hoping the outburst works to similar effect as it did last year.

After losing the penalty count 9-3 to the Sea Eagles, the Dragons lost only one more penalty count for the remainder of the 2005 regular season, but Brown denied he was hoping for some leniency from officials.

"It's definitely going to have an effect on myself and how I approach some things and I've been 100 per cent assured by the players that it's going to have an effect on their approach," Brown said.

Referees boss Robert Finch said there was no way his officials would be swayed by Brown's comments.

"I know exactly why he said it," Finch said.

"It won't have any effect on us, I don't know about St George, but it won't have any effect on the referees."

There is also a belief Brown was trying to take some of the heat off his underperforming stars in the lead-up to Sunday's crucial clash with premiership favourites the Bulldogs.

Several Dragons players, including captain Trent Barrett and prop Jason Ryles, came in for some heavy criticism after the side slipped to its fourth straight defeat and out of the NRL top four with the loss to the Eels.

After issuing the Dragons with the fine, NRL chief executive David Gallop said accusations such as those made by Brown would not be tolerated.

"I realise there is pressure building on teams around the finals but it is incorrect and inappropriate to accuse a referee of bias," Gallop said.

"There can be no more serious accusation to make against a referees integrity.

"We will also not accept an environment where referees are the target of personal attacks by coaches in the lead up to matches."

Experienced whistleblower Sean Hampstead was appointed to control Sunday's clash between the Dragons and the Bulldogs.

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