“It’s a bad call”: Horo weighs in on contentious forward pass ruling in Panthers’ dominant win

Former NRL forward Justin Horo has thrown his support behind Sydney Roosters coach Trent Robinson and captain James Tedesco, as the pair shared their frustration with a contentious forward pass call in Friday night’s Qualifying final.

The Roosters coughed up their chance at a week off in the finals after going down to the Penrith Panthers 30-10 but the loss came with plenty of controversy.

With the visitors mounting a comeback in the second half, a poor forward pass ruling denied the Roosters a chance to bring the deficit to within single digits.

The call from referee Ashley Klein proved to be crucial as the Panthers coasted to a resounding win, booking their spot in the first preliminary final.

With both Robinson and Tedesco letting their frustrations be known post-game, Horo understood how Klein could’ve made the mistake in the moment.

“I agree with them, it’s a bad call,” Horo said on SEN 1170 Mower’s Club.

“I can partly understand, once I seen the angle in which Ashley Klein was in line with Teddy, (he) was actually blocking the sight of Ashley Klein of the ball, the line of the ball.

“Initially I actually thought it was a forward pass, in saying that, you’d like to think if Ashley hadn’t seen it, then he has to rely on the advice from the touchy.

“We don’t have communication of what the touchy has relayed onto Ashley, whether it was his call or Ashley’s call, in saying that it looked like he couldn’t see, so therefore he’s taken a guess in my opinion that because Teddy was slightly in front of Tupou.

“In my opinion, the pass was clearly backwards, it wasn’t even close to flat, it was backwards with momentum and it was a rough call.

“That would’ve made it 24-16, that would’ve applied scoreboard pressure and the Panthers, who started so well and have been in this position now they’ve been so dominant in finals, would’ve got a little bit nervy for sure.”