The NRL has stood by its decision not to award Manly a potentially game-winning penalty for Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad's hit on Reuben Garrick on Friday night.
The league will consider amending its rules around mid-air tackles but head of football Graham Annesley has insisted the much-discussed shot did not come with unacceptable risk of injury.
Annesley conceded, however, there was "no excuse" for the referees mistakenly awarding Newcastle an eight-tackle set that led to a try in the defeat of South Sydney.
Their slim top-eight hopes riding on their round 25 match against the Warriors, the Sea Eagles lined up for a field goal through Daly Cherry-Evans that would have given them a 23-22 lead in the final 10 minutes.
But the ball was charged down and when Garrick jumped to retrieve it, Nicoll-Klokstad tackled him as he was off the ground.
The Sea Eagles appealed unsuccessfully for a penalty that would have given them the chance for a goal and a 24-22 lead, and the Warriors were next to score, with a converted try and subsequent field goal giving them a 29-22 win.
The NRL rules and interpretations state "it is illegal to tackle an opposing player attempting to field a kick on the full whilst the player is in mid-air".
But nothing prevents a player from tackling a player jumping in other circumstances, such as Garrick.
"We'll review all the rules and if there is a way of making the game safer, we have always defaulted to that," Annesley said.
"(But) under the existing rule, there was no requirement on the referees to form a view that that was a breach of the rules."
Garrick fell on his back in pain but Annesley did not believe Nicoll-Klokstad's conduct came with an unacceptable risk of injury.
"Injury alone is not a determination of whether the rules have been breached or not," he said.
"(Players) can get injured in legitimate tackles, so you have to look at this particular situation and look at the circumstances.
"Was there any lack of care taken by Nicoll-Klokstad? I don't think there was."
Annesley conceded the match officials erred in allowing a Newcastle set to run for eight tackles midway through the 29-10 defeat of the Rabbitohs.
The Knights had been due a seven-tackle set after Cody Walker kicked the ball dead.
But the referees lost count after some chaotic goal-line defence that led to two Newcastle play-the-balls in quick succession from much the same spot on the field, before Daniel Saifiti scored on the eighth tackle of the set.
"There's no excuse for it, it's a straight miss by the referees," Annesley said.
Annesley, however, backed the decision to award the Knights a later try after the ball ricocheted into referee Grant Atkins.
The shot constituted a mutual infringement, not the fault of either team. Such infringements are policed at the referees' discretion.
Atkins determined Adam Clune would still have scored the subsequent try had the ball's path not been impeded, given he and Knights hooker Phoenix Crossland were closer to the ball than any Souths player.
