Brad Fittler wanted to wish Josh Reynolds "good luck". It was immediately unclear whether he was referring to an imminent date with the judiciary or in his 11th-hour audition to keep his Blues jersey, however unlikely he will get the chance.
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"Phil Gould used to have a good saying, 'if you grab the tail, you get the whole cat'," City coach Fittler said.
It couldn't have been a more apt description because maybe this cat has run out of lives in a bid to keep hold of the cherished Sky Blue No.6 jersey.
No matter how hard he tried, Reynolds conceded a points decision to opposite James Maloney in Country's 34-22 win at McDonald's Park in Wagga on Sunday.
And regardless of what is thought of Maloney earning man-of-the-match honours in a measured rather than magical display, it is hard to escape the headline that was Reynolds.
He was placed on report - not once but twice - in the second half of the loss, the first for trying to trip Newcastle back-rower Tariq Sims in the act of scoring when Reynolds was wrong footed scrambling back into the defensive line.
It is the second such incident he has come under scrutiny for in as many years having lashed out at then Broncos fullback Ben Barba in August, 2014. If he is rubbed out for two games he will not have another chance to impress NSW coach Laurie Daley and Blues selectors. Three games and the decision will be taken out of their hands.
"He's whole hearted ... you can't knock him for that," Fittler said. "Sometimes all of that effort isn't put in the right direction. [But] he's still got another [few] weeks so I wish him all the best."
Whatever Daley, the most interested onlooker in the Riverina as Country hoisted the shield for the fifth time in six years, thought of the two five-eighths, he was going to keep fairly close to his chest.
He reserved special praise for Country back-rower Josh Jackson, who's ever closer to being christened with a maiden NSW jumper, and said he still had Trent Hodkinson and Mitchell Pearce waiting in the wings after both cooled their heels over the weekend.
On whether the match helped clear up the debate over the NSW halves, Daley said: "Anything can happen between now and when the [series opener] comes. It's hard to single out performances today. Everyone played well.
"[Maloney] directed the team well and young [Jack] Bird is not really a halfback but he got them working well together. The longer the game went the more control he took. I thought he was good."
Maloney nailed five of his six conversions and was at his calculated best late on as Country - which piled on 24 unanswered points in as many minutes either side of half-time - survived a second-half rally from City.
Both Fittler and Country counterpart Trent Barrett said they missed replays of the Reynolds tripping incident - but were unanimous in their praise of Maloney at the helm of the bushies.
"Being our sole kicker there was a lot of pressure on him," Barrett said of his skipper. "He's been terrific all week. He did his Origin chances no harm - and I thought all the blokes in our side went well.
"At the end there we had a few little plans and he stuck to that really well. [But] our forwards laid a good platform. You would like to have them playing in front of you every week."
For his part, Maloney only ever wanted to get the right result. The selection debate was going to bubble on after that.
"I went in with one goal and that was to win it," he said. "We spoke about that being our main outcome.
"All the individual stuff everyone is going to look at individuals but it wasn't a focus of ours. We wanted to win the game. We did that and I was happy with that."
