Newcastle were left fuming post-game after being denied a penalty in the closing stages of their 30-28 NRL loss to Cronulla on Sunday afternoon.

The Knights were in possession when fullback Jake Mamo went down with a bleeding nose after copping a high shot from Sharks halfback Jeff Robson.

After a short stoppage in play, lead referee Gavin Badger ignored pleas from Newcastle skipper Kurt Gidley to penalise the Sharks and ordered Newcastle to play the ball.

“I don’t think there’s a grey area any more, if you get hit in the face, if you get a swinging arm to the head,” Gidley explained after the match.

“And Jake clearly got one. He had a bleeding nose at the end of it and he was knocked around.”

Gidley did however admit that his side shouldn’t have been in the position of relying on a penalty to level the game.

Knights coach Rick Stone also questioned why they didn’t receive a penalty given Kade Snowden was put on report for contact to the head of the Sharks’ Matt Prior midway through the first half.

“I was a bit disappointed with the Snowy (Snowden) one, to be honest. There’s a good tough footy tackle,” he said.

“I understand he’s made some contact with the shoulder, and therein lies the inconsistencies of the referee.

“You get penalised and put on report for something like that, and then the Jake incident right at the end.

“I’m with Kurt 100 per cent. We shouldn’t be worried about that particular incident at the end of the game because we shouldn’t have been in the need of chasing points at that point in the game.

“But it just goes to show the inconsistencies in the level of decision-making that are involved in our game all the time.”