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Analysis - Neither the NZ Warriors nor their fans should have ended such a historic season in this manner.
While the Auckland-based team fumbled or were burgled of their best chance of an NRL championship in more than a decade, depending on your perspective, a record crowd of 48,511 at Eden Park was brought into disrepute by the reaction of a few poor losers after the final whistle.
The scoreboard will show the Warriors stumbled to a 12-10 defeat against Newcastle Knights, capping a demoralising two-and-out exit from the playoffs, after coming so close to the regular season minor premiership.
They had more than enough chances to dictate their own fate, but instead left themselves and their fans lamenting some late officiating decisions that could have gone either way, but went against the home side.
Referee Ashley Klein and his on-field team bore the brunt of that outrage, booed from the field, and dodging what appeared to be plastic bottles or cans thrown from the stands.
Those actions drew the disgust of Warriors legend Shaun Johnson in TV commentary.
"It leaves a bit of a sour taste in your mouth, after what's been an unbelievable night," he told Sky Sport.
"The colours, the energy, the happiness, the celebration... but there's just no need for it. It's just embarrassing.
"Ashley Klein probably reffed the best game of rugby league I've seen in a long time tonight. He didn't take any gamesmanship in terms of people laying down.
"He didn't let people approach him winging, he didn't make the game about him. He let the players come and play, and essentially, they dictated the outcome."
That said, three calls in the final 10 minutes enraged the fans.
Down by two, the Warriors appeared to force a handling error from the Knights in their own half. Klein ruled a knock on, but Newcastle challenged the call and review official Chris Butler overruled it, apparently finding a minute touch from Warriors centre Ali Leiataua that escaped most other onlookers.
Moments later, the Knights again mishandled deep in their own territory, but Klein ruled Warriors halfback Te Maire Martin stripped the ball, as he bounced out of the tackle. The Warriors challenged and lost.
Finally, in the dying seconds, Warriors centre Leka Halasima chased a high kick towards the Knights goalposts and was sent crashing to the ground before he could leap for the contest.
The fans waited for a possible escort call from Klein, but he waved play on and the visitors were allowed to survive to the final siren.
"It was frustrating," admitted Warriors coach Andrew Webster. "I thought they were trying to find ways to take it off us.
"Like, the rotation of the ball [on Leiataua's touch], he said, 'I can't find any evidence, but hang on, I'll have one more look'.
"He has a look and, 'Ooops, there it is'. He looked at it 20 times.
"On the last one [Halasima's collision], when two points would have drawn the game, he's going across Leka pretending to try and catch the ball, which they told us you can't do."
Webster wasn't sold on Martin's alleged strip either, but conceded his team did more than enough to take those decisions out of the equation and could not deliver the final blow.
"At the end of the day, you make your own luck in this game and we had enough opportunities to win that game," he said.
"We created plenty of momentum, plenty of good looks, but we missed two poor tackles that led to tries. Big games are about moments, but it wasn't just those two moments - there were lots of others.
"We had a good opportunity to dominate and we didn't."
The Warriors had other chances. Leiataua had a second-half try taken away for obstruction in the defensive line, while fullback Taine Tuaupiki was allowed to narrowly miss his attempted sideline conversion of Halasima's second try - a kick that would have levelled the scores - before the NRL doctors pulled him from the field for a concussion check.
"It hurts," Webster reflected. "You give yourself an opportunity and you don't take it, so it hurts.
"It's harder than when you think you're a pretender and kind of making up the numbers. We didn't think that, we were very confident in our abilities.
"We won some big games this year and dominated some big teams, so it's in us and we know it. Top two was no fluke and we had the right for two [home] semis, but we couldn't get the job done and that's hard to take."
The Warriors completed the regular season with a club-record 18 wins, scoring more than 700 points for the first time, while selling out their home fixtures and drawing massive support to away games.
None of that means much to them right now, but maybe later, when the ache subsides.
"It's hard to look back at what we've achieved, but there is an element of motivation and we don't want to feel this pain again," Webster said. "It's tough to go through it, but we've definitely come a long way as a club and a country.
"That crowd tonight was ridiculous how good they were. There's so many good things happening in our place, how many young players coming through...
"Obviously we've achieved a lot, but not what we wanted to."
Among those feeling the Warriors' pain was rugby league legend and Fox Sport commentator Gordon Tallis.
"I felt the fans walked away just a little bit robbed tonight," he told RNZ. "I felt like they didn't get any calls tonight.
"I don't think I've seen a side in history lose three No.7s and playmakers through the year, and finish where they did. That's an amazing job.”
