Muir, at the time the Brisbane Wests halfback, is one of the few Australian league players known to have been suspended for spitting at a match official before this case. He was handed the hefty suspension after spitting in referee Dale Coogan's face during a match against Easts at Lang Park in 1968. The former Queensland coach said yesterday of McKinnon: "He got off pretty lightly, didn't he?"

Even the Warriors questioned the leniency given NRL prosecutor Peter Kite had asked the panel for a nine- to 11-match penalty.

Chief executive Wayne Scurrah claimed justice had not been served after their appeal had been rejected, saying: "There were a number of inconsistencies presented in the evidence against Wade and certainly no clear evidence he intentionally spat at the touch judge. It's our belief that Wade has been poorly treated throughout this process, ever since Brett Suttor accused Wade of spitting at him."

McKinnon said in a club statement that he was "shattered" by the suspension. "I didn't spit at or even near the touch judge," he said. "I wouldn't do that."

In rejecting the Warriors' application to appeal against the suspension, judiciary chairman Greg Woods said in a statement yesterday "the admission of spitting by the player, the video evidence of the movements of the player and the touch judge, and the previous reprimand represent a sound basis of support for the conclusion which the panel reached as to the applicant's intention."

Assistant referees' boss Bill Harrigan stopped short of criticising the decision, but suggested he felt the ban was too light. "Something I learnt with the cops, if I locked somebody up and they go before the magistrate, sometimes the sentence wasn't enough for the offence. You just had to get over it. I could jump up and down and shake my head about a particular suspension, but until you know why, I think it would be wrong to do that."

Harrigan admitted referee Ben Cummins should have sent McKinnon off after Suttor's report. "If the bloke deliberately spits at him, I would have sent the bloke off," Harrigan said. "But the ref had reasons why he didn't."

The fallout continued from the weekend's other spitting controversy, involving Melbourne winger Anthony Quinn and Knights player Matt Hilder, who was exonerated. Quinn yesterday denied he changed his tune about an incident during the Storm's loss to Newcastle after alleging after the match he had been spat on by Hilder only to say during the hearing he was not sure if the act was intentional because he had not seen Hilder spit at him.

"The NRL dealt with it," he said. "The matter finished with me after the game. The NRL are the ones that chased it up. I didn't change my tune at all … If the NRL is satisfied then I am satisfied."