The last time Bernard Sutton had to make a tough call between the red and green buttons in a game involving North Queensland, he was given the sack.
But head office was behind the video referee's decision when he denied the Cowboys the match-winning try in Friday night's thriller at Allianz Stadium.
For the third consecutive season, the Cowboys' premiership hopes were ended by a controversial refereeing decision.
The latest was a no-try ruling by video referees Sutton and Luke Patten after detecting what appeared to be the tiniest of knock-ons.
It would have been a gut-wrenching decision for Sutton, who was dropped in April for a clanger obstruction call which prompted Cowboys coach Paul Green to say he would "walk nude through Pitt St" if correct.
This time Sutton had the support of his bosses after another huge decision was referred upstairs.
"First of all, we do a complete review over the weekend, but the preliminary review certainly indicates the referees got that final decision right," said the NRL's head of football, Todd Greenberg.
"It was certainly a tough decision, particularly to make in such a high-pressure situation. Both the video referee and the on-field referee got it right."
The tension between the Cowboys and the NRL spilled over during the week when the Queensland club was fined for comments concerning the decision not to contest Tariq Sims' shoulder charge grading at the judiciary.
While gutted after another heartbreaking call, Green and Johnathan Thurston refused to use the contentious call as the excuse for another finals fadeout.
"The respect that I had for the way Johnathan and Paul Green handled themselves post-match, the way they represented the club and the game was a great indicator of where the Cowboys are as a club," Greenberg said.
"Despite suffering such a difficult end to the game – and you could understand how hard that is to go through as a club – the way they handled themselves was first class."
The video referee decision wasn't the only contentious call made by officials.
With the scores locked, the Cowboys could have been awarded a penalty for what appeared to be a blatant obstruction by Rooster Shaun Kenny-Dowall.
And the Roosters also received a stripping penalty for what may have been a knock-on by Sonny Bill Williams.
"I won't talk about every individual decision but I will say that over the course of a game there are hundreds of key moments," Greenberg said. "Referees aren't going to get everything right, they're just the same as players, you don't go through and play the perfect game. I thought the referees, in high-pressure situations, did a good job."
