The NRL and referee Gerard Sutton have come under fire for missing a "blatant" forward pass in the NZ Warriors' 42-12 preliminary final loss to the Brisbane Broncos.
The Warriors' fairytale season came to a comprehensive end in front of a sellout crowd at Suncorp Stadium, as the Broncos ran in seven tries to three to book their spot in the final against back-to-back defending champions Penrith Panthers - who are aiming to become the first team in the NRL era to win a Grand Final threepeat.
One moment has left fans perplexed and infuriated at the referee.
Trailing 24-12 midway through the second half, the Warriors defence was split by Broncos fullback (and former Warrior) Reece Walsh, who floated a pass forward to winger Selwyn Cobbo, who then found second-rower Jordan Riki with another marginal pass for a try that put Brisbane three converted tries clear.
The pass was completely missed by Sutton and his sideline official, with Fox Sports Australia commentator Andrew Voss saying: "Walsh has thrown it forward a mile, it's gone forward more than a mile."
The missed call created a social media storm on both sides of the Tasman, with fans quick to vent their frustration.
AAP sports journalist Scott Bailey described it as "blatant", while one fan said it was "embarrassing for this sport" and another said it was "the worst call of the season. Disgraceful".
"Absolute joke! Two forward passes let go by Sutton. What a farce the @NRL has become!" another fan said.
"That pass was already on daylight savings time. One hour forward," another fan said on Facebook.
"Imagine if this happens again next weekend and it's the grand final winning try for one of the teams. The ref and touch judges need to go to spec savers," another fan said on Twitter.
Even Sky Sport presenter Laura McGoldrick took time out from hosting game coverage to tweet: "Yeah so that was forward AF, This is finals footy, Unreal."
Former All Black, now SENZ radio host Israel Dagg insisted: "We'll [sic] played broncos but that blatant forward pass ruined the game!! People probably don't understand how deflating that can be in a game!!"
Not all fans were outraged with the call, with many arguing it had no impact on the result.
One fan on Facebook said: "It would not change anything! Broncos will still win!!"
"Even if it wasn't awarded a point, Bronx will still win," another said.
Warriors coach Andrew Webster also didn't think it affected the result. He described the call as "so wrong it wasn't funny", but didn't blame the no-call for the defeat.
"At the end of the day, they made a linebreak, we allowed the linebreak and the forward pass comes off the back of that," he said.
"We weren't defending well during that period. The forward pass was wrong, but we're not crying over that and it didn't cost us the game."
That call wasn't the only one that set the Warriors back in their quest for a third Grand Final visit. Centre Adam Pompey was sin-binned for a professional foul on opposite Katoni Staggs in the 58th minute, but - ironically - Staggs escaped a similar fate for an early tackle on Pompey in the first half.
"It's hard, it's really hard," admitted Webster. "The thing for me on referees and decisions this year... we've got to give ourselves an opportunity to win and take the referees out of it.
"Those things are hard. The boys are trying that hard and get frustrated by those decisions, but at the end of the day, we've got to take some ownership of the way we could have done things better.
"I'm going to say solid with that. All year, that's been our motto."
