Wests Tigers coach Brett Kimmorley has accused Penrith of being disrespectful after the Panthers rested seven State of Origin stars for their round 18 match.
The Panthers won the match 18-16, despite being without a host of first-choice players, leaving the defending premiers eight points clear at the top of the table.
The Tigers, meanwhile, languish in last spot, having lost their last six matches.
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Kimmorley’s comments come just days after confirmation he’ll be out of a job in 2023, with Tim Sheens to return as head coach at the club.
“They are a really good organisation that are entitled to rest their players, but we thought it wasn’t respectful,” Kimmorley said.
“But it got us up, which helped us as well. That is something you have got to use as a coach about how you get your players up.
“We had the chance to win it. The challenge now is to make sure that we don’t fall off the cliff a little bit and compete again next week and we will get that win eventually.”
“They are the premiers and their guys are playing big minutes, but they were the only club that rested their players before the team sheet came out,” Kimmorley added.
“My job as a coach is to be a story teller and I used that for us during the week.”
Panthers coach Ivan Cleary said the decision to rest players had nothing to do with the fact they were playing the Tigers.
“The decision was based on our team, not anyone else’s,” he said.
“It wouldn’t have mattered who we were playing after the third Origin. That was the best time to rest guys. If you rest them during the Origin, physically they might get a rest but mentally they don’t.”
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