Both Payten and Penrith opposite Ivan Cleary were incensed with the officiating in Saturday’s 90-minute thriller in Townsville, with the North Queensland mentor struggling to hold himself back from swearing as he critiqued contentious calls.
The NRL football department is also in possession of footage shot from the stands in which Penrith’s football manager Shane Elford – who doubles as their blue-shirt trainer on game day – sprays water on the ball before the Panthers kicked off golden point.
Cowboys halfback Jake Clifford caught the ball without incident.
Payten did not respond to calls on Sunday but told The Daily Telegraph that Elford “did it before every kickoff. We noticed it in the [coaching] box.”
North Queensland’s trainer also sprayed water on the ball before Clifford prepared to kick off the second half of extra-time, but referee Todd Smith picked up on it.
Smith could be heard on the broadcast calling for an extra ball and explaining shortly afterwards that “he squirted the ball”.
The NRL goes over all football matters as part of its weekly Monday reviews.
Payten raised multiple referee decisions in his post-match press conference, taking specific issue with Cowboys winger Murray Taulagi being penalised for a high shot on Liam Henry, who slipped into the contact.
The Panthers scored from the set that followed.
Payten was incensed that Cowboys centre Viliami Vailea was not awarded a penalty minutes later after being flattened by Tom Jenkins in cover defence.
The collision left Vailea in pain on the ground.
“Murray Taulagi got a penalty where a bloke fell into his chest and then Viliami Vailea, less than five minutes later, got his head taken off,” Payten said.
“It was right in front of the touch judge, and there was no call there. That was wrong. There was also a flop … on the 40-metre line. Any later and it would’ve been tomorrow.”
The Cowboys coach will formally complain to the NRL this week, but claimed on Saturday night that he’d never allow a player to get away with as many mistakes as he feels the referees make.
“It’s so frustrating, we want consistency, and we’re not getting it. I’m confused what’s a high shot and what’s not. I’m sure everyone else is,” he said.
“I’ll talk to the NRL through the week, go through the right channels, but it’s just white noise. ‘Yeah, we got that wrong’. But no one’s held accountable for it.
“If it’s my player making error after error or a couple of howlers, then there’s a fair chance he’s not in the team.”
Payten also intimated that Penrith five-eighth Blaize Talagi threw a forward pass to Isaiah Papali’i ahead of the visitors’ first try.