Samoa coach Matt Parish labelled referee Ashley Klein "weak" after the experienced referee failed to send Angus Crichton off in the Rugby League World Cup final.
Samoa's fairytale run to the final ended at Old Trafford on Saturday (Sunday AEDT) in a 30-10 defeat at the hands of the Kangaroos.
But the most controversial moment came in the 45th minute when Crichton was carrying the ball and he braced for contact from Samoan hooker Chanel Harris-Tavita.
The Australian back-rower cocked his elbow and made contact with Harris-Tavita's jaw, who instantly fell to the ground.
Klein sent the Australian back-rower to the sin bin but Parish argued there should have been a stronger punishment.
"Five minutes into the second half and our hooker gets elbowed in the head and carted off," Parish said.
"The referee made a weak decision to put him in the bin. (I'm) dumbfounded.
"An elbow to the head and he's taken out of the game."
Samoa were unable to score in the time Crichton was off the field although they did grab two tries in the final 20 minutes through Brian To'o and Stephen Crichton.
"We needed a lot of things to go right for us today and we didn't take our chances like we should have," Parish said.
"We were down to 19 players - that's all we had left in the squad. It was very courageous."
