The St George Illawarra Dragons may yet cop sanctions from the NRL over the team list error that saw a different side run onto the field for kick-off than the one named an hour earlier.
It was widely reported at the time the discretion had cost the Dragons an interchange, but match statistics showed they used all eight.
In his weekly briefing, NRL football boss Graham Annesley said that was “a bit of a misunderstanding”.
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“They weren’t docked an interchange – they still got their normal number of interchanges,” he said.
The Dragons’ list had Jacob Liddle down to start at hooker, with Moses Mbye named at No.14.
Instead, it was Mbye who took to the field in Canberra, and Liddle came off the bench.
Teams are required to submit their starting lineup an hour before kick-off, and rules state that side must be the one to take the field when the game commences.
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“That didn’t happen for one reason or another yesterday,” Annesley added.
“I know there have been some stories circulating that that cost them an interchange, but it didn’t cost them an interchange. They still got their full eight interchanges.”
But Annesley said that didn’t mean the Dragons were out of the woods just yet – the matter would now be investigated by league boss Andrew Abdo, who will determine a penalty.
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“It then becomes a breach of our rules, which is dealt with separately post game,” Annesley said.
“Andrew Abdo will have a look at the circumstances around that and we’ll get some more details on how that happened, and then a decision will be taken in the normal course of events about the reasons why the rules were breached.
“A determination will then be made whether they’re issued a breach notice and an associated penalty that goes with that.”
The Dragons went down 20-14 after Hudson Young made a crucial strip on his own 10m line before running away to score the winning try inside the final 10 minutes.
The Dragons still maintained massive pressure on the Canberra line, but were unable to break through.
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