Warriors coach Andrew Webster furious at officials over ‘embarrassing’ shot clock confusion

Sunday, 14 June 2026

Warriors coach Andrew Webster was furious at “embarrassing” confusion over the shot clock in their 10-8 defeat to the Cronulla Sharks on Saturday night.

Webster was unhappy with the NRL officials in what he called “the most unprofessional thing for the game I’ve seen”.

His gripes centred on two incidents in the first half when the Warriors were timed out and penalised.

Warriors coach Andrew Webster was furious at “embarrassing” confusion over the shot clock he said wasn’t operating correctly at Go Media Stadium on Saturday night.

Webster admitted he doesn’t normally “blow up”, but he wanted to because of “the most unprofessional thing for the game I’ve seen” that was to their detriment.

An advert covering the timer on the big screen appeared to be the issue. Webster was equally unhappy with referee Gerard Sutton and the NRL officials running the match.

His gripes centred on two incidents in the first half of their 10-8 defeat to the Cronulla Sharks in Auckland. The first was a penalty awarded against Chanel Harris-Tavita after he was timed out from a dropout, then a scrum where they were timed out again.

The decision from Sutton in the first incident gave the Sharks an easy chance for two points that Braydon Trindall converted for a 2-0 lead.

Webster said Harris-Tavita believed he had more time and asked Sutton for clarity because an advert meant he couldn’t see the shot clock on the big screen.

“He says, ‘ref, how long have I got? I can’t see the clock’,” Webster said.

“He says you’ve got five seconds. He kicks it in two.

“He blows his whistle and gives a penalty. Two points, straight in front. They question it. He says ‘not my fault’.

“He gifted them two points, and they don’t even know how long to go.

“When you ask the question because you can’t see it on the clock, and the response is ‘you’ve got five seconds’, and kick it in two… I never blow up, [but] that’s embarrassing.”

Webster added: “When the referee tells you that, surely common sense says let’s redo [it]. Something has gone wrong, or you just say play on.

“Common sense.”

It wasn’t clear who was at fault for an advert appearing over the shot clock.

In the NRL, dropouts and scrums have to be completed inside 30 seconds. Players do glance at big screens in stadiums to determine the time.

Teams will often try to use up as much time as possible to give themselves a breather and ready for another set.

What unfolded on the field

It was the third dropout Trindall forced on the Warriors inside the opening quarter.

As the teams were lining up for the restart, Harris-Tavita was told “five seconds” by Sutton and proceeded to begin his kicking action.

_The buzzer sounded before _Harris-Tavita struck the ball._ Sutton awarded the Sharks a penalty under the posts._

Harris-Tavita began appealing.

“I’m not responsible for that, mate. I’ve got a buzzer,” Sutton said.

Harris-Tavita respectfully continued.

“I’m not responsible. When the buzzer goes, the buzzer goes. It’s a timing thing,” Sutton added.

“It’s not my responsibility if the timer goes and you haven’t kicked it.”

Trindall knocked over the simple shot at goal to put the Sharks 2-0 ahead in the 18th minute. There was similar confusion for a Cronulla scrum four minutes later.

Sutton warned Warriors second rower Marata Niukore to put his head down to form the scrum, so the Sharks could restart play.

Then, the buzzer sounded again. Sutton gave the Sharks another penalty in their half.

“You’re on the shot clock,” he said.

The Warriors were miffed again.

Sutton called out to stand-in Warriors captain Wayde Egan.

“That’s totally in your control,” he said.

‘Stop penalising’

Webster wasn’t implying these incidents cost them the match, but it was nevertheless frustrating for the Warriors in a tight contest later decided by Trindall’s boot.

The Sharks five-eighth landed a brilliant two-point drop goal in the 79th minute for their dramatic victory, although they were fortunate Adam Pompey missed a difficult penalty goal to force golden-point extra-time from the last play.

Webster said his coaching team were trying to alert the officials about the confusion and that “something was wrong with this clock”.

“Then it happened on the scrum again,” Webster said.

Cronulla were awarded a penalty in their half because the Warriors were adjudged to have not formed a scrum in time in the 22nd minute. Sutton was telling Niukore to get his head down, then blew his whistle.

Webster said they were trying to relay a message: “Stop penalising it because we didn’t know when to pack [down].”

There were no obvious incidents of further bewilderment over the shot clock.

Egan was on the field and echoed what Webster was saying from the players’ perspective.

“We couldn’t see the clock, it went to a different screen or something. I don’t know, the hooter went, and he gave a penalty,” he said.

“It was confusing. I asked Chanel what happened.”

For Harris-Tavita, the buzzer sounded and the Sharks got a penalty under the posts. The Warriors five-eighth’s left-footed kick was rushed and didn’t actually go 10 metres.

That would also have resulted in a Cronulla penalty had play not been immediately halted.

However, that was irrelevant to Webster’s point.

“You don’t need this. If someone makes a bad refereeing decision or call they thought was forward, that sort of stuff happens,” he said.

“When we can’t even get the game clock right, that’s the most unprofessional thing for the game I’ve seen.”

Sharks coach Craig Fitzgibbon wasn’t bothered.

“If you want me to start complaining about what goes against us, man, we'll be sitting here for a while, so we don't care,” he said.

The Warriors remained second on the ladder despite falling to their second defeat in a row. The Sharks climbed to fifth with a result that could have gone either way between two sides who imposed forceful defensive control.

“I’m really proud of the way we tackled. Hats off to the Sharks, they were awesome as well,” Webster said.

“It probably wasn’t the best attacking game of footy to watch, but if you wanted to see two teams going at it, both teams were awesome.”