Although New Zealand Warriors coach Andrew Webster conceded Reece Walsh’s blatant forward pass “was so wrong it wasn’t funny”, he refused to admit it cost his team the game.
With the Warriors’ preliminary final against the Brisbane Broncos delicately poised at 24-12 in the second half, Walsh threw a forward pass which led to Jordan Riki crossing over to make it 30-12 in the 55th minute.
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It proved to be a decisive turning point in the contest as the Broncos continued to pile on the points while the Warriors struggled with their discipline and defending.
Instead of blaming his team’s demise on the refereeing howler, Webster felt his team should have never found themselves in a situation where the play was allowed to happen.
“No, certainly not,” Webster said in his post-match press conference when quizzed as to whether the forward pass decided the contest.
“The forward pass was so wrong it wasn’t funny. But at the end of the day, they made a linebreak, they made a linebreak, we allowed the linebreak, and the forward pass comes off the back of that.
“We weren’t defending well during that period.
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“The forward pass was so wrong, but we’re not crying over that. It certainly didn’t cost us the game.”
As the Warriors players looked up at the big screen inside Suncorp Stadium to see replays of the forward pass, it no doubt would have been a demoralising feeling for those on the field.
Yet Webster, who understood why his players would have been “frustrated”, reiterated the team have operated all year long by not allowing them to blame referees for their failings.
“It’s hard, it’s really hard,” Webster said.
“But the thing for me on the referees and the decisions this year, we’ve got to give ourselves the opportunity to win and we’ve got to take the referees out of it.
“Those things are hard. Look, the boys are trying hard and they 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 stay solid by that all year, that’s been our motto.”
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