Smith and several NRL commissioners entered the North Queensland dressing room after the match to apologise for the refereeing blunder. Crunch time: Sharks winger Beau Ryan runs into the teeth of the North Queensland defence. Credit:Brendan Esposito Onlookers described Smith as looking shaken as he left the change room and a furious Henry told the post-match press conference that their words were a waste of time after NRL officials last season apologised to the Cowboys for another refereeing controversy in their defeat by Manly. ''It has been a couple of years in a row they've admitted crucial errors which has cost us points,'' Henry said. ''It astounds me that it happened. It's embarrassing for the game. I've got that from the top.'' Asked what he had said to Smith, Henry said: ''He apologised. A couple of commissioners were saying the same thing. I got the same talk last year. It happened to be my club. It's six points that shouldn't have been in the game.''

The incident occurred exactly 12 months to the day that video referees Steve Clark and Paul Simpkins missed a knock-on by Kieran Foran in the lead up to a Jorge Taufua try during the Sea Eagles' win in last year's finals series. ''We don't forget that Kieran Foran moment. We trained with that moment all year,'' Henry said. NRL head of football Todd Greenberg immediately announced an inquiry into how referees Matt Cecchin and Henry Perenara had lost count as Cronulla went the length of the field on the set of tackles before Ryan's eighth-minute try. There were suggestions that North Queensland halfback Robert Lui had dropped the ball before getting a boot to it but match officials did not signal zero tackle when Andrew Fifita fielded the kick. Instead, they correctly called the second tackle but did not call the third or fourth tackle. Cecchin then called ''fourth'' as Luke Lewis played the ball on what should have been the fifth tackle and Sam Tagataese burst through the middle of the ruck before being tackled short of the line. The Cowboys should have received possession from a change over but instead Cronulla received one more tackle and five-eighth Todd Carney passed the ball to centre Ben Pomeroy who put Ryan over with a flick pass.