Warriors fans left fuming over 'absolute joke' decision in loss to Storm

New Zealand Warriors fans are crying foul after their NRL loss to the Melbourne Storm on Tuesday night, after a controversial try to Nick Meaney was given the tick of approval by the Bunker. The Warriors surged to a 22-12 lead in the second half and looked poised to cause a gigantic upset over the Storm in Melbourne.

But Meaney's second try of the night gave the Storm a 24-22 lead, before a late try to Harry Grant made the final score 30-22. However fans and commentators were left fuming over the match-turning try to Meaney, with many believing Reimis Smith had knocked on in the lead-up.

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Smith flew high to contest a bomb from Jahrome Hughes, with the ball spewing out backwards off Dallin Watene-Zelezniak and falling into the lap of Meaney for an easy try. The Bunker watched a number of replays to make sure that Smith hadn't got a fingertip to the ball in the contest, before confirming the try without an official inspection.

Warriors coach Andrew Webster clearly wasn't happy with the decision, throwing his head back in disbelief when the try was confirmed. One angle on the replays appeared to suggest Smith's fingertip may have brushed the ball, but the Bunker clearly didn't believe there was enough evidence to overturn the on-field decision.

“He can’t believe it Andrew Webster,” Michael Ennis said in commentary. Ennis said it was “close”, while co-commentator Dan Ginnane added: “We haven’t seen anything definitive”.

But Warriors fans were convinced they'd seen a knock on and blew up on social media. The official SENZ account tweeted: “There is an obvious knock on by the Storm, an Nick Meaney swoops on the loose ball to score his second of the game.” Tim Evans of Sky Sports wrote: “How the heck was that try not sent for closer scrutiny??”

Newshub sports reporter James Regan commented: “Upto bunker honestly. Absolute joke", while radio host Marc Peard wrote: “If that had been the Warriors scoring … It would have gone to the bunker … And been called a knock on.”

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Speaking on Fox Sports after the game, Corey Parker said he felt a number of crucial calls had gone against the Warriors. “I thought in the second half, they got the real prickly end of the pineapple in terms to some of the calls,” he said.

“From the video evidence we saw, I thought there was a touch from Reimis Smith. There obviously wasn’t or it was adjudicated that way.

"There was a potential hip-drop on Dylan Walker. “But at the end of the day, it comes down to having troops and they just didn’t have any troops on the park.”

When asked in his post-match press conference about the incident, Webster said: “I wish it wasn’t a try. Those are the moments we’ve got to be in charge of.

“Two players collide, there’s a ball on the ground, and we’re not there to clean it up, they are. That’s us saying to ourselves ‘let’s not make excuses’.

“Players are coming to me in there saying ‘things may not have gone our way at times', but we’ve got to own that bit. So why weren’t we on the loose ball, and why were we colliding in the air. Then you take it out of the referees hands. And I’m not critical of the decision, I don’t know.”

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