NRL: Cleary fumes over video referee's call

Jacob Lillyman of the Warriors. Photo / Getty Images

The Warriors haven't had too many reasons for complaint about NRL refereeing this season - until Saturday night.

Video referee Pat Reynolds' decision to rule out a James Maloney try that would have levelled the scores midway through the second half was undoubtedly a game-changer in a low-scoring defeat by the Roosters. Reynolds needed just one replay to decide that Krisnan Inu's brilliant kick recovery included a knock-on.

"One look at that? I mean, seriously," Warriors coach Ivan Cleary said. "I just get this feeling that he saw something that no one else could."

Cleary was quick to pay tribute to a Roosters' defensive effort that snapped his side's five-match winning run, but was still struggling to digest the no-try decision yesterday.

"I couldn't see a knock on. When I first saw it in real time ... sometimes you can tell by a player's body language. Krisnan for the all the world thought it was okay. Then they showed the head-on shot to see if it had come out and I just went 'oh well that's benefit of the doubt at the worst'."

It wasn't, with the decision halting the increasingly rampant Warriors' momentum. While they will also rue their inability to turn early pressure into points in the wet conditions - and the two tries conceded in the shadow of halftime - the Warriors would have fancied their chances of completing the comeback had Maloney's effort been awarded.

"It was a crucial time," Cleary said. "We'd scored and there was another knock-on missed from [Anthony] Minichiello on the kick return straight after we'd scored. They were two big calls in a row. Momentum is everything. I was feeling pretty good as Jimmy was scoring that try. I was thinking 'righto we're coming to get them here'.

"But, look, you've got to give credit to the Roosters. They played pretty well and defended really well."

Young halfback Shaun Johnson's much-awaited debut was a somewhat muted affair. The 20-year-old playmaker produced several neat attacking kicks - including one that led to Simon Mannering's try - but also forced a bad pass with the Warriors chasing the game late on.

"He'll look back at the game and think he could have done some things differently, but for a first up effort in a pretty tough game I thought he did all right," Cleary said. "Defensively he really put himself out there. I was pretty happy with him. He is going to get a lot better but, all in all, he played 80 minutes in a really tough game and that can only help him."

On the good news front, Steve Rapira's wrist injury is not believed to be as serious as first feared.

Early reports that Rapira - who produced a strong effort on his club debut - had broken his wrist were incorrect, Cleary said.

"He's had issues with both wrists in the past. Sometimes he gets hit in the wrong way and it goes a bit numb on him. It's not a broken wrist." Cleary was hopeful Rapira would be fit to face the Tigers at Mt Smart on Sunday.