State of Origin legends from both states were left dumbfounded after a contentious Game III Blues try was allowed to stand in a massive moment during NSW’s win in the series decider at Suncorp Stadium.

And the reaction was warranted with the NRL admitting late on Wednesday night on-field the Bunker shouldn’t have awarded a runaway second half try to Bradman Best.

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With the Blues up 18-8 and Queensland threatening to mount a comeback, Reece Walsh put up an attacking cross field kick which was contested by Maroons and Blues wingers Jojo Fifita and Jack Bostock.

The ball couldn’t spilt to the ground after a contest before Bradman Best scooped it up and ran 90 metres to score, giving New South Wales a handy 24-8 lead with 20 minutes on the clock.

Replays showed the ball seemingly glazed the hand of Bostock and bounced forward.

However, after some deliberation, the Bunker confirmed the try, leaving Maroons legends Cooper Cronk and Cameron Smith baffled.

“Much respect to the match officials, but I’m not sure how in an Origin decider that can go through to the keeper,” Cronk said on Fox League’s Decider Debrief.

“We just saw it then that it touched the finger. That’s just can’t happen.”

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Smith was fuming over the call in commentary.

“I just can’t get over this call by the Bunker,” Smith said on Channel 9.

“It was a clear touch by Bostock at a crucial time when it’s only a two try game.

“We just can’t get those wrong. We cannot get them wrong. Not in games like this.”

Smith certainly wasn’t alone with Cronk, Greg Alexander and Blues legend Andrew Johns among those agreeing it looked a knock on.

“The ball touches the fingertips of Jack Bostock as it goes behind Fifita’s hand. That ball gets ricocheted off the fingertips of the right hand. To me, he touches it. There is a finger on that ball,” Cronk said on Fox League’s Decider Debrief.

Alexander added: “And Bradman Best is in front of him. The ball goes forward.

“That was a crucial time in the game. The game was in the balance.”

An NRL spokesperson said in a statement while it was an extremely close call, NSW should not have been awarded the try.

“After reviewing all available angles, the Bunker did not believe there was sufficient evidence to overturn the on-field decision,” the statement said.

“Upon detailed review after the match, the NRL believes that while it was an extremely tight decision, the ball appeared to be touched.”

Smith later doubled down on his opinion in Channel 9’s post-game coverage, going as far as to say if it is proven to be the wrong call the NRL needs to have a serious conversation about the future of the Bunker.

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“Watching it live, it looked like it touched his right finger, his right hand and that vision there, it doesn’t change my mind at all,” Smith said.

“I haven’t seen the corner post vision. I don’t think anyone’s seen the corner post vision. But I think we’ll see a little bit more of this over the next few days.

“If that’s touched his hand and it’s proved to to have touched it, we need a serious review of the Bunker.

“I’m disappointed that Queensland lost. Would that have changed the result? Probably not. But it was at a pretty crucial point in the game where Queensland were down by 10 points. We’ve seen that they can they can score points pretty quickly.

“… It would have been nice if we could have seen that vision that proves this wrong. If everyone can see that surely the man in the Bunker can see it. It’s crazy to think that he couldn’t see that.

“For the sake of the game… I hope he hasn’t touched it. I really hope he hasn’t. But if he has, we need to sit down as a sport. The administration, the commission need to sit down and make a decision on where we head with this Bunker.

“We spent a lot of money on it. We put trust in in people to sit in there and make the right decision. That’s why we have this technology.

“If we’re not going to make the right decision in the big games, in the big moments, flick it and we’ll just get on with the way Joey (Johns) wants to do it. Let’s just play it in real time. If the referee awards a try, it’s a try and we move on.”

Many shared the outrage and confusion on social media.