{"id":735088,"date":"2026-06-14T01:26:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-14T01:26:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/735088\/"},"modified":"2026-06-14T01:26:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-14T01:26:12","slug":"i-never-blow-up-thats-embarrassing-webster-dishes-on-nrl-referees-after-warriors-loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/735088\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;I never blow up. That&#8217;s embarrassing&#8221;: Webster dishes on NRL referees after Warriors loss"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\/nrl\/teams\/new-zealand-warriors\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">New Zealand Warriors<\/a> head coach <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\/coaches\/andrew-webster\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Andrew Webster<\/a> has been left fuming over a refereeing debacle during the club&#8217;s loss to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\/nrl\/teams\/cronulla-sharks\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Cronulla Sharks<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In what was the Warriors&#8217; first game in Auckland for two months, and their return from last week&#8217;s bye, they took the challenge to an understrength <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\/nrl\/teams\/cronulla-sharks\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Cronulla Sharks<\/a>, but ultimately were knocked over by a late two-point field goal from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\/players\/braydon-trindall\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Braydon Trindall<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>It ensured the Auckland-based club would lose their second game in a row, having fallen short to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\/nrl\/teams\/penrith-panthers\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Penrith Panthers<\/a> to end a six-match winning streak before the bye.<\/p>\n<p>But the Sharks, potentially, should never have been in a position to win after being gifted a penalty goal during the first half.<\/p>\n<p>In the play that got scoring underway for the evening, the Warriors were lining up a drop out, but unable to see the countdown clock on the big screen due to an advertisement, asked the referee Gerard Sutton how long was remaining.<\/p>\n<p>Told five seconds, half <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\/players\/chanel-harris-tavita\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Chanel Harris-Tavita<\/a> took the kick within approximately two or three seconds, but the drop out shot clock expired first and a penalty was awarded as a result.<\/p>\n<p>Webster didn&#8217;t hold back when asked by reporters after the game.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was a dropout. Chanel says to the referee there was an advertisement on the screen. He says, \u2018Ref, how long have I got? I can&#8217;t see the clock&#8217;. He says, \u2018You&#8217;ve got five seconds&#8217;,\u201d Webster said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe kicks it in two and as he&#8217;s kicking it, the siren goes off, blows his whistle, gives a penalty, two points straight in front. And then they question, and he says, \u2018Not my fault&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-102158\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=\" http:=\"\" alt=\"NRL Rd 1 - Warriors v Titans\" width=\"100%\" data-lazy- data-lazy- data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GettyImages-1306825866.jpg.webp.webp\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo (it) gifted them two points because professionalism around they don&#8217;t even know how long to go.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen you ask the question, because you can&#8217;t see it on the clock, and the response is, \u2018You&#8217;ve got five seconds&#8217;, and you kick it in two \u2026 I never blow up. That&#8217;s embarrassing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf the referee tells you you&#8217;ve got five seconds and you kick it in two. Five minus two is three. They&#8217;ve got three seconds left \u2026 when the referee tells you that, and then he&#8217;s the one that penalises you, surely common sense is let&#8217;s do a re-do there. Something&#8217;s gone wrong, or you say just play on. Common sense.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Webster&#8217;s side had a late chance to send it to golden point, but missed a penalty goal.<\/p>\n<p>The club, who still sit towards the top of the table, will be desperate to turn things around next weekend at home away from home when they welcome the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\/nrl\/teams\/north-queensland-cowboys\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">North Queensland Cowboys<\/a> to Christchurch.<\/p>\n<p>The Warriors will still be without <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\/players\/james-fisher-harris\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">James Fisher-Harris<\/a> for that clash, with the prop suffering a calf injury that&#8217;s likely to leave him sidelined for a number of weeks.<\/p>\n<p>Webster will have other selection queries though, with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\/players\/charnze-nicoll-klokstad\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad<\/a> now fit, playing from the bench in his return against the Sharks on Saturday evening.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New Zealand Warriors head coach Andrew Webster has been left fuming over a refereeing debacle during the club&#8217;s&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":84029,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-735088","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/735088","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=735088"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/735088\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/84029"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=735088"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=735088"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=735088"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}