A frustrated Andrew Webster was of the belief there was not “enough evidence to overturn” a crucial try that would have handed the Warriors the lead, and a top four boost.
With five minutes remaining in the clash, and the scores sitting at 26-22 to the Eels, Adam Pompey scored what looked to be a match-defining four-pointer.
But instead, Demitric Vaimauga was deemed to have knocked the ball on in an aerial contest with Isaiah Iongi in a controversial Bunker call that left Webster puzzled.
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“I don’t know if there’s enough evidence to overturn it that he touched it,” Webster said.
“I can’t tell if he touched it or not, but I’m pretty biased with four minutes to go, so I’m gonna have to rely on everyone else there for now and watch it slow mo.
“But I can promise you right now, we should not have been in that situation through the way we played.”
Speaking to Fox League post-match, Vaimauga himself did admit he touched the ball — but claimed it went back.
“I did touch it, I thought I was facing my own goal line and touched it back. I don’t think it was the defining moment in the game,” he said.
“But it is what it is, we will go back to the drawing board.”
However, rugby league legend Cooper Cronk had other ideas, giving a damning assessment: “He touched it, the ball went forward, no try”.
Eels coach Jason Ryles also pointed to Vaimauga’s admission in his own post-match press conference, claiming reports were “barking up the wrong tree”.
“The kid thought it was (a no try), there was no disputing that,” he said, but was later pressed on the matter further.
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“The referee tonight and the Bunker had a lot of decisions to make. For me, that’s a knock on every day of the week.
“But who am I to say? Sometimes you get the calls and sometimes you don’t and we have had a lot of times where we haven’t got the calls, that’s the reality.
“They are human in the middle and they are human in the Bunker, but if you’re asking my pure opinion? That went forward, every day of the week.
“I don’t even know why you are asking the question…. I know you need to ask the questions and that, but at the end of the day, the referees are out there to do a job and it is not easy.
“If it’s going to come down to one finger touch that went forward, you’re barking up the wrong tree.”
Eels skipper Mitchell Moses also chimed in, saying: “They had a 12-4 penalty count… not going off one play bruz (sic)… looking in the wrong area”.
Regardless of the controversial moment, Webster explained his side didn’t deserve to be in the fight due to lapses in concentration.
“I’m not frustrated with the way we were trying, and the way we prepare and everything like that. It’s just unbelievable,” Webster said.
“Concentration, we got a no try down on their try line at the start of the game, the next thing they pick it up and run 100 (metres).
“That happened like three times to us, our last plays ended up being a weapon for them… we are trying really hard and there’s poor concentration and execution off the back of it.”
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After the loss, the Warriors have now left themselves in a precarious position in the fight for a top four spot and a finals second chance.
Should the Broncos and Sharks win, both those teams will leapfrog New Zealand due to points differential, with a final round shootout looming.
“It doesn’t matter. Wherever we finish, we finish,” Webster said.
“We honestly, we want to go in to chase our best performance we can. That’s all we want to do and if that means wherever we finish on the table, whatever that equals to, then that’s fine.
“I mean, I’m no mathematician, but if we win and those teams lose, then we’re still a chance at top four, but that is not on our radar.
“Our radar is strong performance to concentrate for 80 minutes, be ruthless with the way we play.”
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