Penrith centre Tyrone Peachey admitted he was unsure if the ball had touched his hand or arm on the way to the tryline in the decisive four-pointer that broke the 10-10 deadlock against Manly in the NRL elimination final on Saturday night.
Peachey immediately pointed to his chest after the Bryce Cartwright grubber kick ricocheted off Daly Cherry-Evans' boot and into him during the 12-point win that ended the Sea Eagles' season.
The ruling has brought angst in the Manly camp with coach Trent Barrett unhappy with the decision.
With the on-field match officials ruling a try, the NRL Bunker found insufficient evidence to overturn the decision.
When questioned by the media after the match, Peachey said he couldn't recall the incident too clearly or feel the ball touch his arm.
"I was calling off Carty (Cartwright) and thought he was going to pass it, that was probably why I didn't have my hands up and it ended up getting me on the chest," Peachey said.
"I couldn't tell, I didn't see. It was pretty fast and can't remember exactly what happened. I had the "T" (try) sign up looking at the ref – it was frantic.
"Once I saw them checking the grounding I was confident, it was an awesome feeling and we just had to hold them out."
With scores level with eight minutes on the clock, Cartwright took a gamble on the last tackle to skip the chance for a field goal and go down the blind side with the deft kick in-goal.
"It wasn't planned [but] I knew he was going to do something," Peachey said of Cartwright.
"He was probing all game and looked dangerous. Carty's a confident player and when he's on, he's on.
"He's got his fitness up the last couple of weeks and it's good going into the finals with him in form."
After Peachey admitted opposite number Dylan Walker "got one over him" last week in the final round of the regular season, he was keen to return to the favour.
Along with the entire Panthers outfit, Anthony Griffin's men responded in fine fashion to send Manly packing.
The rivalry between the two sides flowed on from seven days prior, with Walker again in the middle of a number of push and shove moments during the clash.
"He's a good competitor and I like playing games like that because I know he's a good player and I can't let him get on top of me," Peachey said of Walker.
"He's one of the top centres in the league. It's a good battle and he got the better of me last week but we [won] this week so it's good.
"I've got Jimmy Roberts next week so that's going to be another big ask."
Asked what was said between the pair throughout the clash, Peachey preferred to leave it on the paddock.
"I can't remember," Peachey said.
"There's a lot of testosterone out there and he's an aggressive bloke so I can't go in soft-hearted."
When asked if he returned the favour of a verbal exchange once the result was secured, the Panthers utility played it down.
"Nah, I'm a humble bloke," he said, with a smile.
