Disappointed NSW centre Josh Morris reckons he did enough to be awarded what would potentially have been a match-winning try in the 66th minute of Origin I.
Following 15 minutes of high-pressure attacking ball the Blues were getting frustrated at not being able to crack the Maroons line while trailing 6-4 in the second half until a clever short-side play from hooker Robbie Farah led to Morris stepping inside opposite man Greg Inglis and pushing the ball down to scrape the chalk – in his opinion.
The officials sent it up as a possible try on the word of the touch judge but after an agonising wait where replays failed to show any part of the ball on the line, the decision was overturned and it proved to be as close as the Blues got to claiming the lead in another heartbreaking narrow loss.
"I thought I did [get it down]. Obviously it happened really quickly, I thought I got inside GI's shoulder, got myself down low and promoted the ball on the line then got pushed back," Morris said after the game.
"They looked at it plenty at the bunker and obviously overturned it.
"I think the touchie was adamant it was a try, 'Fergo' [Blake Ferguson] was going off his head saying it was a try. There were stages there where you couldn't see the ball at all so I thought the benefit of the doubt would have got us there but it wasn't to be.
"I guess the more it draws on you're hoping there was that benefit of the doubt and the try's going to come up but obviously it didn't."
Asked if he saw on the line, Morris said it was more that he felt he got it down.
"I copped a bit of a cork there so I got up a bit gingerly but I thought I did enough to get underneath GI. I stepped him, got on the inside of him and got the ball down low and I thought I had it on the try line," he added.
"Obviously the more it came up on the screen and the more looks we had you could see a stage there where you couldn't see the ball at all and I thought that would work in my favour but obviously it hasn't."
Like his teammates Morris wasn't blaming either that decision or the officials in general for the result in a game where his team had no shortage of opportunities but couldn't capitalise on a mountain of possession and attacking field position.
"I think we had plenty of opportunities there. The last pass probably just didn't go the way we wanted but to keep them to six points is a handy feat and we need to take it up to Suncorp," he said.
Blues vice captain Robbie Farah – who created the opportunity for a possible try and was nearby when Morris claimed the try – added he also thought the four-pointer was fair.
"I thought he got it down, Fergo said he saw him get it down and the touch judge said he got it down," Farah said.
"The ref asked the touchie and they gave it a try so I'm of the opinion the rule is it needs to be 100 per cent conclusive for them to overturn the on-field decision and if they think that's 100 per cent conclusive then good luck to them.
"Gal was off the field at the time so I questioned the ref but it didn't go our way."
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