The message from New Zealand coach Stephen Kearney was simple to his charges before their must-win World Cup clash against surprise packets Papua New Guinea on the Gold Coast - expect the unexpected.

But Kearney wasn't talking about the Kumuls.

Kearney conceded that he told his troops to anticipate rule interpretations that were "a little different" from English referee Steve Ganson at Skilled Park on Saturday night.

However, Ganson clearly had both teams befuddled as the English Super League whistleblower emerged as a talking point for his second straight game.

Tonga were furious with Ganson's performance in their 22-20 win over Ireland on October 27 after being penalised 14 times and having two players sinbinned.

Tongan skipper Lopini Paea celebrated having "a normal NRL ref" - Shayne Hayne - for their second game against Samoa last Friday night after Ganson made an impression for all the wrong reasons.

And Ganson raised eyebrows for both sides during NZ's 48-6 win over PNG on the Gold Coast, again highlighting that the whistle may have a significant impact on the World Cup finals.

Kearney had watched the Tonga-Ireland match - and gave his players a pre-match heads up.

"I made the group fairly aware that with the refereeing decisions, that (different interpretations) might be a possibility of happening - but I was pleased with the way the boys stuck to their task," Kearney said.

Kearney diplomatically tried to tiptoe around the subject but the issue kept inadvertently raising its head when the NZ mentor reflected on the match.

"We gave them a few chances by turning the ball over, and there were a couple of decisions ... " Kearney said before trailing off.

The coach was contrite when asked his thoughts on Ganson.

"Without being too critical, the interpretation of a few rules may have been a little different," he said.

Kiwi captain Nathan Cayless was more forthright.

"There were some strange decisions but we expected that. We just have to deal with that, the boys did really well," he said.

PNG coach Adrian Lam was also not happy with Ganson.

"I was really disappointed with the 10 metres, I can't stress that enough," he said.

"I sent a couple of messages out to try and get that fixed. I just felt that we were catching the ball and they were hitting us straight away.

"I thought that was a big part of the whole game. The most disappointing thing was the 10 metres, how he held that."

Kumuls captain John Wilshere had the best insight on Ganson considering he plays in England for Salford.

But he was just as frustrated as Lam by fulltime.

"It did seem that they were in our faces a fair bit. I tried to put the call out to him (about the 10m) but what can you do?" he said.

Ganson looks set to hold the whistle for major World Cup clashes, judging by his resume.

The Englishman has officiated some of Super League's biggest games, including this year's Challenge Cup final.

The 2007 Super League referee of the year - a veteran of about 500 first grade games in England - also held the whistle for last year's ANZAC and Centenary Tests.

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