Geoff Toovey reckons it's ridiculous. Not only the way a referee, albeit inadvertently, determined another game of football. But also how the bloke who gets chicken-winged is the one sent to the sin bin.

Manly prop Josh Starling was on the end of an illegal tackle from opposing forward Josh Jackson, retaliated and spent the next 10 minutes ruing his actions.

"The whole thing is ridiculous," Toovey said. "We all know that. Nothing is going to change. A bloke can ... arm bar a bloke and not get 10 minutes. The whole thing is out of control."

The other incident that will long be talked about is the lead-up to Trent Hodkinson's first field goal. Fellow Blues half Josh Reynolds kicked the ball on the last, it hit the referee and the result was a scrum feed to the Bulldogs.

"So much for a referee not having a direct outcome on the game. Let's face it, that's what happened," Toovey said. "It hits the ref, they get six more, they kick a field goal."

Asked if he thought it was a deliberate ploy from Reynolds, Toovey said: "I think it's just a poor kick."

The Sea Eagles are out of the competition but the focus is unlikely to shift during their off season. Several senior players, including Anthony Watmough, Steve Matai and Brett Stewart, are contracted but speculation they want out won't go away.

"Everyone would like to be in the land of milk and honey," Toovey said, but declined to go into how destabilising the dramas were to the club's premiership campaign.

It is also a sad farewell to Jason King, the veteran prop forward playing his last NRL game.

"Very sad to see him out short," Toovey said. "It would have been good to send him out like Beaver [Steve Menzies] with the winning trophy. Starting a new chapter of his life and he is excited."