Bulldogs coach Cameron Ciraldo dodged questions regarding an unpunished hip-drop tackle against the Rabbitohs, after his side suffered a narrow loss on Good Friday.
One year removed from Jacob Preston landing himself in hot water in the same fixture, Jack Wighton escaped sanction or penalty for a similar tackle on the Canterbury young gun as Souths picked up their first win of the year in a 20-16 nail-biter.
During the first half of the clash, the 22-year-old burst through the line but was dragged down by the Rabbitohs centre, who landed his weight on the back of Preston's lower leg and left the second-rower clutching at his ankle.
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However, despite a brief stoppage, referee Gerard Sutton and the Bunker saw no issue with Wighton's tackle and allowed play to continue.
"Did you think that was a hip-drop from Wighton? It looked like it," league icon Andrew Johns said on the Nine broadcast.
Speaking to the media post-game, Ciraldo was reminded of the incident involving Preston 12 months earlier and rolled his eyes when asked about the Wighton challenge.
"I remember it well," he said.
"I didn't see it that closely. Preston's ankle is pretty sore."
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Ciraldo also took the high road when quizzed on Latrell Mitchell knocking out Josh Addo-Carr, but admitted losing the star winger "wasn't ideal" for the Dogs.
While his side continue to show plenty of heart in their performances, Ciraldo lamented the lack of execution from Canterbury, with the side now slumping to 1-3 from their opening month of football.
"12 months ago, if we had gone down 10-0 on a day like today, it probably would have kept going and got ugly,' the coach said.
"We were able to dominate field position … we just didn't execute. We're a team that's got a lot of effort at the moment – but at some stage, we're gonna need to execute better and that's what we need to figure out pretty quickly.
"In the last five minutes, we actually showed a lot more energy in our attack. We started to get behind the ball, we started to support more, we looked dangerous – but the score was 20-12 and the game was probably gone.
"It takes no courage to play when the game is gone."
Ciraldo's men face a horror next fortnight, with clashes against premiership heavyweights in the Sydney Roosters and Melbourne Storm.
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