SYDNEY Roosters captain Craig Fitzgibbon last night explained he hadn't bothered trying to convert Sam Perrett's 80th-minute try against Gold Coast because it wouldn't have made any difference to the final result - or the team's final-eight hopes.

With Perrett's try putting the Roosters just four points behind the Titans and with only 12 seconds remaining on the clock, Fitzgibbon declined to take the sideline kick in a bid to give his side one last chance to produce yet another miracle win. However, referee Gavin Badger told him there wasn't enough time for a re-start.

Fitzgibbon was then again offered the opportunity to improve on the 22-18 scoreline but he walked from the field - and into a gambling controversy. Punters are able to bet on how many points will be scored in a game.

Centrebet spokesman Neil Evans said the agency had lost heavily on the total match points (over and under) market. "The over and under figure was set at 41.5 points and the punters had gone hard on the unders, obviously because of the rain up there," Evans said. "We ended up losing $50,000 on that."

Australian Sportsbook spokesman Larry Hawke said his agency had lost about $5000 on the same option, which they had also marked at 41.5 points. TAB Sportsbet spokesman Shaun Beirne said their figure was 42.5, which meant the kick did not matter.

There is no guarantee Fitzgibbon would have landed the kick from out wide and NRL chief operating officer Graham Annesley said the league was comfortable with Fitzgibbon's decision because it was within the rules.

"The laws of the game don't require conversions to be taken, therefore the result of the game complied with the rules," he said. "We have no control over gambling on the game. If people gamble, they gamble in the knowledge that the game is played under a certain set of rules and the rules say you can decline a kick."

Fitzgibbon said: "Either way, we had to score another try to win even if I had kicked it and the referee said there was no time."

The Roosters now sit on 21 points in 11th place but with eighth-placed Brisbane, South Sydney and the Titans all on 22 points, they have not yet given up hope of a finals berth.

"We're on uneven points with the teams that we're competing with so it wouldn't have mattered," Fitzgibbon said when asked if he had squandered a chance to improve his side's points differential. The Roosters trail Brisbane by 243 points on a for-and-against basis.

While the make-up of the final eight remains unclear, the battle for third and fourth spots - and the advantage of a home final - has become even more congested.

Back-to-back wins in five days by North Queensland and consecutive Parramatta defeats have catapulted the Cowboys into outright third position on 28 points, but seven other teams remain in contention for a top-four finals berth.