It was a heartbreaking defeat for the North Queensland Cowboys on Friday night who went down to the Sydney Roosters 31-30.
Here's some photos taken by Getty Images.
For the third consecutive year, the North Queensland Cowboys have been bundled out of the finals in scenes of disbelief after a controversial refereeing decision denied them of the match-winning try.
Conspiracy theory claims will again be shouted from north of the border after the Cowboys once more failed to earn any favours from the footy gods.
It looked like Cowboys skipper Johnathan Thurston had scored the try that would seal a passage into the preliminary final, only for the video referees to rule Robert Lui had contentiously knocked on a pass from Kyle Feldt in the lead up.
It was a cruel end to what would have been the greatest escape in the history of the game, after the Cowboys had fought back from a 30-0 deficit to equalise, only for James Maloney to snatch victory with a field goal.
"Try, no try?" Thurston said.
"I'm speechless."
The decision to rule a knock-on against Lui was one of two controversial decisions to go against the Cowboys in the final minutes, with the referees ruling a strip against the Cowboys when replays suggested Williams might have knocked on in the set leading up to the field goal.
The Cowboys were knocked out of the 2012 finals by Manly after the video referee incorrectly ruled a knock-on against Thurston when the ball had clearly come off Sea Eagles five-eighth Kieran Foran.
Last year they were also knocked out of the finals in controversy after Cronulla winger Beau Ryan scored a try in a seven-tackle set.
The previous largest comeback was produced by the Cowboys in 1998, when they fought back from a 26-0 deficit to overcome the Panthers 36-28.
It was the fourth time in five games this finals series that a team has shot out of the blocks with at least four consecutive tries to open the match.
The Rabbitohs ran out to a 22-0 after 35 minutes, while the Cowboys and Bulldogs both soared to 24-0 first-half leads in their week one finals matches against the Broncos and Storm respectively.
This time it was the Roosters who did the early damage, racing out to a 30 point lead in as many minutes with five unanswered tries.
It should have been enough to win two football games, let alone enough to seal their place in next Friday's preliminary final against South Sydney at ANZ Stadium.
But 30 points wouldn't be enough.
In a similar position to where Penrith's Jamie Soward broke their hearts last week, James Maloney slotted a field-goal to sink the gallant Cowboys in front of a crowd of 18,355 at Allianz Stadium.
The night couldn't have started any worse for the visitors, with Pearce plucking a Morgan kick from the air to run 95 metres to give his side a 6-0 lead after three minutes.
The Roosters punished North Queensland for their inability to convert pressure into points when a Maloney cut-out pass put Tupou over in the corner before Jennings scored off a Maloney grubber into the goal pads.
Tupou then showed incredible control to hold on to a Jennings offload, pushing past Morgan in a 50 metre dash to the tryline for his second try, before Maloney slammed it down from close range for a 30-0 lead inside 31 minutes.
Minichiello then squandered an uncontested bomb to gift Ethan Lowe the easiest try of his short career, before Cooper brushed past Pearce to reduce the half time deficit to 18 points.
Thurston then gave the Cowboys a reason to dare to dream when he stepped back on the inside of Sonny Bill Williams to score the opening try of the second half.
That dream was fast becoming a nightmare for the Roosters, who conceded another try soon after when Lui dived on a loose pass from Minichiello to reduce the deficit to just six points with 30 minutes remaining, before Scott crashed over to equalise only for Maloney to snatch the win.
North Queensland captain Johnathan Thurston admitted he was "filthy", but refused to blame a controversial refereeing call that cost him a try in the final minute for Friday night's 31-30 semi-final loss to Sydney Roosters.
For the third year in a row, Thurston was forced to front a press conference after his team's season had ended in dubious circumstances but he was less bitter and said the reason for the Cowboys defeat was the 30 unanswered points they conceded in the opening 30 minutes.
It looked like Thurston had scored the try in the final minute that would seal a passage into the preliminary final, only for the video referees to rule Robert Lui had contentiously knocked on a pass from Kyle Feldt in the lead up.
After storming back to level the scores midway through the second half before Roosters five-eighth James Maloney secured the 31-30 win with a 75th minute field goal, Thurston said he regretted not opting for a penalty goal just before half-time.
"We probably should have taken the two points just before half-time," Thurston said.
"We had the momentum there so in hindsight that was probably the way to go.
"We had a lot of momentum towards the back end of the first half and that continued in the second half so that was probably the one I was disappointed about a bit."
After being eliminated in the 2012 finals series following Manly five-eighth Kieran Foran's "hand of God" try and last year's seven-tackle try by Cronulla winger Beau Ryan, Thurston and North Queensland coach Paul Green accepted the latest setback with dignity.
"Look I am still filthy, we just lost a final and it still hurts but we are a more mature team now," Thurston said.
"It is a bitter pill to swallow but the start is what put us under the pump and it is a massive learning curve for our boys. In big matches you can't start the way we did. To be down 30-0 after 30 minutes it is pretty tough to claw back but I am extremely proud of the effort of the boys. We weren't good enough in the end."
Green, who was issued with a $10,000 breach notice for comments he made this week about forward Tariq Sims' five match ban for a shoulder charge, said there was no point criticising the match officials.
"It is disappointing, it is pretty tough to cop losing that way but we need to grow and learn from it and we have come a long way as a team and a club this year," Green said.
"We showed what we can do when we put it together and blaming other people or ref's calls or anything like that is not going to do us any good in the long term.
"This is really tough to cop as a group and all of the boys are really hurting. Everyone is burning about this and we will remember how we are feeling tonight and grow as a group and as a club to make sure we never ever feel this way again."
Asked if the decision to rule a knock on against five-eighth Lui was right or wrong, Green said: "Whether it is right or wrong, it comes down to the start of the game and we didn't start well enough."
