St George Illawarra coach Wayne Bennett has backed the controversial no-try ruling which handed his side a last-gasp NRL win over the Bulldogs, but the veteran mentor says the game should never have come down to a 50-50 call.

"We let them back into the game, there was just no way they should have been in that game," Bennett said of the 20-18 win on Friday night.

"It shouldn't have come down to a video referee's decision in the last 30 seconds of the game, it should have been our game a long time before that."

Rarely has a half of football been as one-sided as the first 40 minutes at WIN Jubilee Oval, when play rarely ventured into the Dragons side of halfway.

When Ben Creagh got pulled up for what would have been his second try just after the half hour, the Dragons had enjoyed a 73 per cent share of possession.

Yet for all their dominance, they went to the sheds with only a 14-6 lead.

Then again in the second stanza the Bulldogs lost playmaker Brett Kimmorley for ten minutes to the sin bin, yet it was the visitors who finished with a wet sail until video referee Steve Clark stopped them dead in their tracks when he denied centre Jamal Idris what would have been a match-winning try.

Bennett claimed Clark's ruling - when he said Greg Eastwood had obstructed Jamie Soward in the lead-up to the last minute four-pointer - was a 50-50 call, but he backed the new hardline stance on blockers.

"We've got to start getting the message that you're not to interfere with defenders," Bennett said.

"That's the message they've been giving us and it's been going on for a while now.

"I've got to assume that's what we're going to have to get used to and I'm a fan of it.

"I just think that defenders shouldn't be impeded from making their way to make a tackle - intentionally or unintentionally."

As for Bulldogs coach Kevin Moore's assertion that Soward took a dive in an attempt to earn his side a penalty, Bennett said: "The opposition player grabbed at Jamie Soward.

"Jamie may have played for the penalty and it may have backfired on him but the point is he didn't put (Eastwood's) hand on him and pull his jersey so that's a bit ridiculous to suggest that was the situation."

Brought to you by AAP © 2024 AAP