Allen and Sleeth played their first games for Marrar last weekend against Coleambally. Both also sat on the bench for the Bombers’ reserve grade team, which counts as a second game.

Neither is able to play against Barellan this weekend (Allen is suspended and Sleeth is unavailable) and Marrar only have two more games before finals.

But, after one afternoon, the pair are already halfway to meeting the four-game criteria to be eligible and, with another reserves-firsts double-up, will be able to qualify in one more round.

AFL Riverina operations manager Shane Buchanan said there’s nothing in the rules to prevent the move.

“The Marrar football club, like other clubs in the last few weeks, have rang me about the finals qualification,” Buchanan said.

“The way the by-laws are written, they’re playing within the rules of the player eligibility by-laws.”

The Bombers declined to discuss whether it was in the spirit of the game. The club believes they simply asked for clarification of the rules from AFL Riverina and are abiding by them.

“It is in the rules,” Marrar president Terry Langtry said. “We’re within the rules of the game, that’s what we’re allowed to do.”

The rules governing eligibility for finals state: For the purpose of qualifying for the First Grade during the current season a player who has played 25% of available home and away games (4 games) to qualify in either First, Reserve or Under 17.5’s Grades shall be deemed eligible.

There is nothing in the rules to prevent a player accruing two appearances in one day. Buchanan said the by-laws allow lower grade footballers, who play multiple games in a day, to not have their eligibility for finals adversely affected.

However, players are now effectively able to meet the 25 percent mark for first grade eligibility in half the time. By playing two of 16 first grade games and two of 16 reserve grade games, they only feature in four of 32 games across the two grades (12.5%) but have met the criteria of playing four games in a 16-round season.

AFL Riverina haven’t flagged the rule for review at the end of the season but noted that all by-laws are up for discussion.

“Every year we send a planning document out to all clubs asking them to review by-laws and submit changes which will then be consolidated and presented to clubs at the annual meeting in October,” Buchanan said.

“We have a process. That’s what the rule is (now). We stick with it and, like anything to do with our competitions, it can be reviewed at the end of the season.”