Strengthening their side in the lead up to the finals may not have been the reason behind Souths registering Karmichael Hunt as a Magpies player, but that hasn’t stopped the club trying to get the exiled international dispensation for this weekend’s elimination semi-final against Easts.

But, in what Souths will be hoping isn’t a prelude to the weekend’s result, the appeal was turned down by an independent panel appointed by the Queensland Rugby Union Board at the beginning of the season.

The dual international fronted the panel, along with a handful of Souths representatives, to try to plead his case on Wednesday night, but ultimately the club was denied.

The rules of the Premier Rugby competition state that a player must be registered six weeks out from finals to be eligible for the post-season; Hunt was only registered with four games remaining.

Souths powerbrokers entered a request for dispensation for Hunt and recently registered international hooker, David Paice, on Monday but both were denied. The club took the option to appeal the denial on Wednesday morning.

Though the club had a loss with Hunt’s appeal, they did have a win in getting Paice cleared to take part in the action on Ballymore.

The exception was made due to Souths successfully debating they required the former London Irish and England hooker due to safety reasons, after a number of injuries to their hooking reserves.

Despite only being registered three weeks before the finals, the significant loss of a number of back-up rakes resulted in the QRU panel agreeing to allow Paice to play, and the club giving the undertaking that he will only be selected on the bench.

Regular No.2 Alex Casey, is a more than competent player – and NRC representative – and is expected to start against the Tigers, with Paice’s eight England caps of experience to be available from the bench.

While some may view the contrasting results of the appeals as “double standards”, the reason for Paice’s approval is due to player safety and integrity of the game – by way of avoiding what would have been inevitable uncontested scrums if Souths incurred another injury in the hooking position.