NRL football boss Graham Annesley has clarified a bizarre team sheet bungle which saw the Dragons start a different team to the one named.
The Dragons listed hooker Jacob Liddle to start in jersey No.9 an hour before kick-off against the Raiders, but utility Moses Mbye in jersey No.14 actually started the game at dummyhalf.
Under NRL rules, teams are required to submit their teams an hour before the game begins.
Annesley addressed the incident in his regular Monday press conference and confirmed the Dragons were not penalised with an interchange.
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“They weren’t docked an interchange – they still got their normal number of interchanges,” he said.
“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.”
Annesley then hinted the Dragons could face punishment over the mix up if it was deemed a breach of the NRL rules.
“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.
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“A determination will then be made whether they’re issued a breach notice and an associated penalty that goes with that.”
The team sheet blunder was met with incredulity by the Fox League commentators.
“I think at the moment what sums up the plight of the Dragons is they named Jacob Liddle to start at hooker, but Moses Mbye took the field,” Matty Johns said on Sunday Night with Matty Johns.
Bryan Fletcher was also in shock that such a blunder could happen.
“When I heard that I couldn’t believe it,” Fletcher said.
“It’s a bit like the Tigers when something is going wrong it seems to continue.”
“Like the saying when it rains it pours and then it hails,” Johns added.
