A contentious name on the stroke of halftime has marred a 14-8 victory for Newcastle, after the Warriors have been denied what appeared a transparent minimize penalty strive moments earlier than the break.
Trailing 8-6 with below 60 seconds left within the opening half, Dallin Watene-Zelezniak appeared to attain an apparent penalty strive after Greg Marzhew tackled the Kiwi flyer in mid-air within the in-goal, just for the Bunker to intervene.
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The person upstairs confirmed that Marzhew had tackled DWZ illegally within the air, and regardless of no different Newcastle participant being inside cooee, the officers deemed a penalty ample for the contact.
Fox Sports activities commentator Michael Ennis appeared in disbelief after the Warriors have been denied the go-ahead strive.
“Our recreation throws up some doozies some instances, and that is certainly one of them. The Bunker clearly says Watene-Zelezniak catches it cleanly, but he’s tackled within the air by Greg Marzhew, and it’s not a penalty strive.
“If he catches that cleanly and simply falls to the bottom, he scores that day-after-day of the week. So I’m undecided how that’s not a penalty strive at the moment.”
On-field referee Chris Butler stored it brief and sharp when quizzed by New Zealand captain Shaun Johnson: “We by no means 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 when he’s going up within the air to catch it, and he will get taken out within the air and he’s coming all the way down to put the ball down, he was going to attain the strive,” Webster stated post-match.
“The one purpose he didn’t rating is as a result of he was tackled within the air.
“I don’t perceive if that’s the precise rule, or if there’s a clause for that individual play whenever you’re attacking and also you catch the ball within the air, nevertheless it deadset regarded like he was going to attain for all cash, and the one purpose he didn’t is as a result of he bought tackled within the air.”
Regardless of the slippery pitch within the Hunter, stand-in fullback David Armstorng gave house followers a glimpse of his confidence minutes into the conflict, placing a deep kick into the Warriors’ in-goal halfway by a set, solely to obtain an ideal bounce to power a line dropout.
Whereas the lads in purple and blue wouldn’t capitalise in that second, a bobble from Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad on his personal tryline opened the door for Tyson Gamble to dive on the free ball and open the scoring for the house aspect.
A second impromptu kick from Armstrong minutes later would result in one more Nicoll-Klokstad bobble, and finally a penalty in entrance of the sticks to increase the result in eight.
Nevertheless it was the rookie fullback that opened the door for the Warriors to strike again, dropping the Steeden in a routine hit-up, gifting New Zealand key area place simply 45m out.
Whereas the likes of Shaun Johnson and CNK appeared the most probably to create one thing in assault, it was the skipper Tohu Harris that delivered an ideal short-pass to Dylan Walker to ship the utility below the sticks, and minimize the rating again to 8-6.
The Knights would maintain the slender lead into the break, seemingly because of the Bunker’s resolution to not award the attempt to DWZ on the stroke of halftime.
The gloomy climate set the tone for an arm wrestle because the heavens opened up for the second stanza, unleashing the weather on the 16,094 Newcastle devoted.
The Warriors regarded to have gone forward within the 51st minute when Watene-Zelezniak regarded to have scored within the nook, just for it to be known as again for an obstruction.
League nice Steve Roach was fuming over the decision after Jackson Hastings wrapped his arms round decoy runner Jackson Ford earlier than hitting the turf.
Though the Warriors have been in a position to snag a penalty objective to tug stage quickly after, a brief ball from Hastings to Daniel Saifiti sealed the end result for the Knights in entrance of their drenched house followers.
