The semi-final match between the Newcastle Knights and New Zealand Warriors may have ended in controversy but Justin Holbrook was adamant he had no issue with the officiating.

The Knights were on the right side of three contentious decisions made by referee Ashley Klein and the Bunker in the dying stages but Holbrook remained unfazed when asked about the decisions.

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“I thought they were all right,” he said post-match.

When a New Zealand-based reported tried to delve deeper into the contentious calls which saw Tyson Frizell appearing to block multiple Warriors chasers, Holbrook revealed he didn’t even notice the incident.

“I didn’t notice that,” he added.

Meanwhile, another reporter questioned Holbrook on a separate contentious decision.

This incident saw the referee award a penalty against Ali Leiataua for strip even though replays looked inconclusive.

“I thought he stripped it with his hand and ripped it like that,” he said.

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Rather than dwell on the officiating decisions, Holbrook instead praised his side for the gutsy performance which has set up a preliminary final with the Panthers next weekend.

“I’m not here to comment on the result. Anyway we were fantastic today,” he added.

“The Warriors had a great year, they were enormous. It was not much in the game but I want to thank our players.

“We played with a hundred-odd fans here in front of 50,000 and we knew how many fans were watching back home so I’m really happy with the win.”

Continuing their fairy tale finals run, the two-point victory came just three weeks after they were beaten by the Warriors in Auckland, 46-32.

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However, the head coach stated the heavy defeat gave the Knights confidence heading into clash today as they knew what to expect from their opponents who have now exited the finals in straight sets.

“We did have a lot of confidence from that game going into our Souths game but we knew this one would be different,” Holbrook continued.

“We knew we weren’t going to have some joy like we did in that game. This was a lot more at stake. The Warriors had set themselves up all year. They weren’t at full strength that day (and) we were down to 12.

“They would have relaxed a bit and we fought hard and that’s what we’ve done every week.

“It wasn’t going to be the same way and we knew the game went today how we predicted it was going to go.

“We knew it was going to be hard but again our playing group handled change of positions, people moving around, a young forward pack against arguably the best pack in the comp here tonight. That was a great win.”