A contentious call on the stroke of halftime has marred a 14-8 victory for Newcastle, after the Warriors were denied what seemed a clear cut penalty try moments before the break.
Trailing 8-6 with under 60 seconds left in the opening half, Dallin Watene-Zelezniak seemed to score an obvious penalty try after Greg Marzhew tackled the Kiwi flyer in mid-air in the in-goal, only for the Bunker to intervene.
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The man upstairs confirmed that Marzhew had tackled DWZ illegally in the air, and despite no other Newcastle player being within cooee, the officials deemed a penalty sufficient for the contact.
Fox Sports commentator Michael Ennis seemed in disbelief after the Warriors were denied the go-ahead try.
“Our game throws up some doozies some times, and this is one of them. The Bunker clearly says Watene-Zelezniak catches it cleanly, yet he’s tackled in the air by Greg Marzhew, and it’s not a penalty try.
“If he catches that cleanly and just falls to the ground, he scores that every day of the week. So I’m not sure how that’s not a penalty try in this day and age.”
On-field referee Chris Butler kept it short and sharp when quizzed by New Zealand captain Shaun Johnson: “We never give penalty tries for that.”
Warriors’ head coach Andrew Webster was left confused over the on-field ruling.
“I don’t know 100 per cent the rule, but if he’s going up in the air to catch it, and he gets taken out in the air and he’s coming down to put the ball down, he was going to score the try,” Webster said post-match.
“The only reason he didn’t score is because he was tackled in the air.
“I don’t understand if that’s the exact rule, or if there’s a clause for that particular play when you’re attacking and you catch the ball in the air, but it deadset looked like he was going to score for all money, and the only reason he didn’t is because he got tackled in the air.”
Despite the slippery pitch in the Hunter, stand-in fullback David Armstorng gave home fans a glimpse of his confidence minutes into the clash, putting a deep kick into the Warriors’ in-goal midway through a set, only to receive a perfect bounce to force a line dropout.
While the men in red and blue wouldn’t capitalise in that moment, a bobble from Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad on his own tryline opened the door for Tyson Gamble to dive on the loose ball and open the scoring for the home side.
A second impromptu kick from Armstrong minutes later would lead to yet another Nicoll-Klokstad bobble, and eventually a penalty in front of the sticks to extend the lead to eight.
However it was the rookie fullback that opened the door for the Warriors to strike back, dropping the Steeden in a routine hit-up, gifting New Zealand key field position just 45m out.
While the likes of Shaun Johnson and CNK appeared the most likely to create something in attack, it was the skipper Tohu Harris that delivered a perfect short-pass to Dylan Walker to send the utility under the sticks, and cut the score back to 8-6.
The Knights would hold the slender lead into the break, seemingly due to the Bunker’s decision not to award the try to DWZ on the stroke of halftime.
The gloomy weather set the tone for an arm wrestle as the heavens opened up for the second stanza, unleashing the elements on the 16,094 Newcastle faithful.
The Warriors looked to have gone ahead in the 51st minute when Watene-Zelezniak looked to have scored in the corner, only for it to be called back for an obstruction.
League great Steve Roach was fuming over the call after Jackson Hastings wrapped his arms around decoy runner Jackson Ford before hitting the turf.
Although the Warriors were able to snag a penalty goal to pull level soon after, a short ball from Hastings to Daniel Saifiti sealed the result for the Knights in front of their drenched home fans.