Adam O'Brien blows up at Knights golden point drama as contentious calls divide NRL world

A furious Adam O'Brien has hit out at several controversial calls that went against his Newcastle side in Sunday's heartbreaking 19-18 golden point loss to Cronulla that all but ends the Knights' NRL finals hopes. Newcastle thought they had the game won before extra time when skipper Kalyn Ponga kicked a field goal that was chalked off by Gerard Sutton because the referee decided the visitors had illegally blocked the Sharks players from being able to charge down the kick.

Incredibly, the Sharks also fell victim to the contentious 'blockers' rule moments later when they too were denied a potentially match-winning field goal in similar circumstances. With the scores locked at 18-18 the game went into golden point and as the clock ticked down on the first period of extra time, back-up Sharks five-eighth Daniel Atkinson slotted the match-winner from 20 metres out to break Newcastle hearts and cement Cronulla's position in the top four.

It left O'Brien seething after the game, with the Newcastle coach questioning referee Sutton's decision to deny both the Knights and Sharks potentially game-winning field goals due to the blockers rule that was brought in this season but has been rarely implemented. The NRL flagged in the pre-season it would review each field goal this year to determine whether the attacking team's non-kicking players were in the line impeding the defence.

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But on both occasions, players from the attacking team were just standing in the line as if they were going to receive a pass and did not appear to go out of their way to block their opponents. "I thought theirs was a field goal as well," a frustrated O'Brien said about the blocker calls in his post-match press conference. "Graham (Annesley, NRL head of football) will find a way to dress it up."

Sharks coach Craig Fitzgibbon also didn't see an issue with either blocker penalty. "I probably agree, I didn't think there was an obstruction line for any of (the players)," Fitzgibbon said. "I thought the guys had clear lanes - but if you start opening that up as well guys are just going to run into them and milk it. I don't have a solution... but I didn't think either were (a penalty), but that's the rule."

NRL fans fume over contentious 'blockers' rule

The Knights had even more cause to be filthy with the blockers penalty that denied Ponga a match-winning field goal, with several Cronulla players appearing to be offside when they charged out of the defensive line towards the Newcastle captain. And disgruntled fans took to social media to voice their displeasure over the refereeing drama.

Phoenix Crossland sin bin call divides NRL world

O'Brien was also livid with a sin bin call against Phoenix Crossland for holding down Jesse Ramien near the Newcastle tryline on the stroke of halftime. Crossland had already been pinged for a six-again for holding down moments before, with Sutton explaining that the Knights half had left him with little choice but to send him to the bin.

"I'd be shocked if anyone agreed," O'Brien said of the Crossland sin-binning call. "That was the third infringement for the half. I think we had one for offside from a scrum, which happens a lot, and we only had one for slowing the ruck down. On the third one he puts a bloke in the bin. This team is fighting to stay in the competition and then you get that done to you? Usually someone gets warned that it's going to go there. He went there on the third penalty. Fair dinkum. It's ridiculous."

The sin bin call divided the NRL world though, with several greats of the game including Cooper Cronk, Michael Ennis and Corey Parker agreeing with the call. However, others such as Andrew Johns and Paul Gallen argued that while Crossland's actions may have warranted a penalty, the sin bin call seemed incredibly harsh.

“I totally agree,” Johns said. “He did it two plays before he held him down and he had six to go. I think he flopped in deliberately to try to get it to halftime. Whether it’s a sin bin, I don’t know. But this is a penalty, without doubt. It’s a big call for sin bin.”

Gallen also hit out at the decision at halftime and questioned whether referees were going to be consistent with the ruling in future. “I’m happy for the Sharks,” Gallen said. “He (Crossland) did that on purpose, there’s no doubt about that. But are they going to be consistent with it for the rest of the year?

"If that was 10 or 15 minutes into the game, are they sending him for 10 minutes? I don’t think so, I think they’d just rule six to go. I think it’s a massive call, I don’t agree with it. Unless they’re going to be consistent with it, they can’t bring it in this week and then next week not continue to do it. I can’t 100 per cent agree with that one, no.”