Coach Andrew Webster admits he's a tad confused, after the NRL bunker's decision not to award Dallin Watene-Zelezniak a penalty try during Sunday's loss to Newcastle Knights.
A minute out from halftime, the wing was denied what seemed a straightforward four-pointer, soaring to cleanly take a Shaun Johnson bomb, only to spill the ball as he made his movement to ground the ball under the duress of Knights opposite Greg Marzhew's illegal mid-air tackle.
The decision denied the Warriors a highly valuable score in a tight contest on an afternoon when atrocious conditions meant points were at a premium. The Knights eventually outlasted the Warriors 14-8.
While he laid no blame for his team's loss on the incident, Webster says he is unsure why the bunker didn't deem it deserving of a penalty try.
"I don't know the rule 100 percent, but if he's going up for the ball to catch it, gets taken out in the air and he's coming down to put the ball down, and he was going to score the try and the only reason he doesn't because he got tackled in the air..." Webster said.
"I don't understand if that's the exact rule or if that's a clause for that particular play, if you are attacking and catch the ball in the air.
"It looked like he was going to deadset score for all money and the only reason he didn't was because he got tackled in the air, but I'll leave it to the NRL to explain it.
"At the end of the day, I thought a penalty try is if someone is deadset about to score and then they are not able to because of a penalty when they were going to score. I don't want anyone here leaving today thinking that's the reason why we're here."
A baffled Johnson was seen quizzing referee Chris Butler, as the teams left the field for halftime.
Speaking at his weekly Monday review, NRL referees boss Graham Annesley says the onus for any penalty try decision lay strictly with the officials, who in this case, clearly thought there was too much doubt.
"The rules make it very clear," said Annesley at his weekly review. "That's a decision that either the referee, if the referee had make the decision based on what they saw live or the bunker, on a review, have to determine whether a try would've been scored.
"Not could've, would've."
Webster had no complaints with the bunker's decison to rule out another Watene-Zelezniak try later in the match, when his leaping effort into the corner was scratched out due to Jackson Ford's obstruction.
The defeat was the third on the trot for the Warriors, dropping them to 14th in the NRL standings, with a brutal schedule ahead that includes fixtures against Sydney Roosters and defending champs Penrith Panthers.
Webster pointed at the team's lack of energy on offence and another poor display of discipline as the primary reasons behind their disappointing outing at McDonald Jones Stadium.
"The boys are trying really hard to win it," he insisted. "You can see that, but we're not doing it together at the moment, not in the way we'd like to.
"We're zapping ourselves of energy through our discipline. There isn't the same zip in our attack.
"We're not at a point we'd like to be. We're making it harder for ourselves and were very good last year in putting other teams under pressure."
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