Brisbane coach Wayne Bennett took no time at all in his post-match press conference to get around to an unfortunate moment from usually reliable winger Jordan Kahu that proved the pivotal moment in his team's 10-7 loss to Canterbury on Thursday night.
In the 52nd minute with Brisbane leading 7-0 and launching repeat set after repeat set at the Bulldogs line, a shocker of a goal-line drop-out from Brad Abbey travelled barely five metres and was moments away from being a Brisbane penalty in front of the posts when Kahu inexplicably picked the ball up and attempted to score a try.
Under the rules, if the receiving team touches the ball first before it's had a chance to travel 10 metres from a drop-out the penalty is awarded to the team taking the kick and Canterbury used the opportunity to march downfield and score a try, quickly adding a second to take the lead when they should have been under the pump.
"Inability to know the rules with the drop-out," was Bennett's terse reply when asked what the difference was between the two teams.
"It was a pretty crucial moment in the game. They got a lot of momentum from there."
Bennett did offer some praise to the Kiwi international, who he said had a really good game overall, but didn't shy away from the reasonable assumption that NRL players should be aware of a widely-known rule that is drummed into players from a young age.
"They've played enough football to know what the rules are. It's no one else's fault," Bennett added.
"He'll be disappointed like the rest of us will be. It just swung the momentum of the game. They scored in the next set then they grew an arm and a leg and scored again a couple of sets later because they were full of confidence.
"It swung the game on us, then we had to fight our way back in the last 10 minutes which we did and gave ourselves a real chance but it didn't happen, to their credit they hung on and got the victory.
"Tight games like that it will always come down to something you shouldn't have done because there's nothing in the game."
Kahu's blunder also drew little sympathy from a relieved Bulldogs coach Des Hasler.
"I think Wayne might be giving him the rule book this week," Hasler smiled when asked about the match-turning play.
"I'm pleased he did [pick it up]. Learn the rules. It was just one of those things. Sometimes a game swings on a piece of fortune, so to speak."
Broncos skipper Darius Boyd said his team still held confidence they could close the game out after the error but weren't able to produce the sort of form they hoped.
"We were confident all the way in the game," Boyd said.
"We knew we could play well and get the win if we put it together, we just didn't put it together. There were certain areas in the game we had some lapses and it's disappointing."
