The trio of controversial calls that ended the Warriors’ finals campaign has been put under the microscope in the wake of Ashley Klein’s axing and several shock NRL admissions.

The Knights won a controversial clash on Sunday and following his performance, Klein has been demoted and will not officiate over a preliminary finals clash.

According to The Daily Telegraph’s Dean Ritchie, either Grant Atkins or Gerard Sutton will join Adam Gee as the referees in the penultimate round of the 2026 finals.

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He also believed the grand final job was “Adam Gee’s to lose” while NRL360 host Braith Anasta supported that potential appointment.

Regardless, three refereeing decisions on Sunday proved costly for the Warriors — but the first controversial call was one that the panel agreed Klein got right.

1. THE KALYN PONGA PASS

It took 71 minutes before the contentious decisions began.

The first came after Bradman Best dropped a Kalyn Ponga pass, with Newcastle using a captain’s challenge to claim Ali Leiataua got a touch on the ball in its flight path.

While the replays looked inconclusive, the Bunker deemed that the ball’s rotation indicated it was in fact touched and The Australian’s Brent Read said he was “comfortable with the call”.

Anasta also revealed the NRL backed that decision, saying “we can all live with that one” — before the fireworks ensued when analysing Martin’s strip.

Knock on call against the Warriors.Source: Supplied

2. TE MAIRE MARTIN’S STRIP

Only moments later, Knights winger Greg Marzhew looked to have dropped the ball only 10 metres out from his own try line, handing the Warriors an opportunity with a two-point deficit.

Klein, however, deemed the New Zealand playmaker had stripped the ball and a penalty was awarded.

The Warriors challenged that call and were handed a huge blow after the Bunker claimed Martin had moved his fingers into a stripping motion.

“This is a loose carry every day of the week for me,” Anasta said.

“They said that he moved his fingers in a raking motion. Does he have time to move his fingers?”

Ritchie agreed, saying: “It’s more absurd the more I see it that that’s a strip, there’s no way to justify it, I don’t care what you say. The Warriors were gypped at that very moment.

“If that is a strip then I am an eskimo.”

But not everyone was on the same page and Read believed the slow-motion angles did prove Martin made a play at the ball during the tackle.

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“I can live with the decision, because I think there is a stripping motion… if you watch it in slow-mo I think there’s a stripping motion in there,” Read said.

Anasta wasn’t buying it, replying: “The key there is you’re saying in slow-mo Ready, this is not slow. This is fast, hard impact. You don’t have time.

“Oh my god, Ready, Ready.”

But league legend Gorden Tallis then asked if it was a “loose carry” from Marzhew and Read agreed.

“Well what are you talking about? Let’s just stop there,” Anasta said, shaking his head in disbelief before moving on.

The Te Maire Martin strip call.Source: Supplied

3. THE TYSON FRIZELL ESCORT

The NRL reportedly admitted the officials got this call wrong — and it proved to be the game-defining moment.

With 50 seconds left on the clock, Fletcher Sharpe fielded a bomb close to his line and looked to have won the game for the Knights by reeling the ball in.

But as replays were shown, Tyson Frizell looked to have blocked the Warriors chasers by raising his arms and moving towards the ball.

A penalty should have been awarded, given the NRL’s admission, which would have allowed the Warriors to level the scores and take the clash to extra time.

Luckily for Warriors fans, the panel, and Read, all agreed this decision was a howler.

“It’s a shocking call, it’s a shocking call. Tyson has played it really well… there was only one thing in his mind, to block,” Read said.

The Tyson Frizell escort that went unpunished.Source: FOX SPORTS

“It’s a bad call and Ashley Klein has been demoted, and he probably deserves to be given the significance of that decision.”

Anasta added: “Has anyone ever seen Tyson Frizell catch a bomb? He was two metres away from the ball.

“We are all laughing here, but there was 50,000 fans in Auckland who weren’t laughing.”

But the decision highlighted one key question — why can’t the Bunker step in for the glaring mistakes?

“The Bunker was brought in for the howler, the absolute howler that costs games. That’s a howler,” Ritchie said.

The Bunker’s involvement in games has been a hot topic for several years, with powerful voices like veteran coach Wayne Bennett calling for the technology to be scrapped.

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It’s biggest critics consistently highlight how often the third official will intervene, especially during key decisions that could make or break a game.

However, by giving the Bunker more power to change refereeing decisions that would otherwise go unchecked, another issue arises.

“We have sat on this show and talked about the Bunker intervening too much… now you want the Bunker to get more involved,” Read said.

“The NRL cannot win with the Bunker, cannot win.”

Meanwhile, Anasta explained the Warriors were stripped of their chance to keep their premiership dream alive, despite arguably being the second best on the day.

“Newcastle were the better team, Newcastle deserved to win the game… but the Warriors, they played great all year, they put themselves in this position to play a home final,” Anasta said.

“Because they had worked their arses off all year. As players, even when winning comps, there are games where you are not the better team but you get the job done.

“And you have every opportunity to win that game. Because of these rulings, the Warriors did not have every opportunity to win that game.

“This whole thing about Newcastle being the better team and deserving to win the game, that’s not necessarily the case.”

Read argued they had 79 minutes to win the game, to which Anasta said: “They didn’t get it right, but because of two calls we just looked at.

“The best team doesn’t always win… it’s an 80 minute game mate. If it happened in the first minute, it’s 12-all. It doesn’t happen if it’s in the first minute or the 79th.

“If it’s a penalty, it’s a penalty.”