St George Illawarra stayed in the finals hunt on Saturday night courtesy of an upset 30-26 over the Broncos in Brisbane.
Christian Tuipulotu scored a first career hat-trick for a Dragons side that withstood a late Brisbane fightback to improve to 9-8 for the season.
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But an apparent try celebration after one of Tuipulotu’s four pointers came under the scrutiny of some eagle-eyed fans.
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With just over nine minutes remaining in the first half at Suncorp Stadium, a floating ball from Kyle Flanagan found the Kiwi winger, who beat four defenders to get over the line in a superb individual effort.
There was some doubts over Tuipulotu’s grounding before it was given the green light, to the surprise of the Fox League commentators.
“Despite the referee on-field awarding a try, I can’t give that,” Greg Alexander said.
“That’s not a try,” Dan Ginnane added. “That’s a blow to the Broncos there. Well done Dragons, they got a little bit of luck there.”
But those watching closely spotted a moment that the commentators all missed.
After the winger got back to his feet and was lifted into the air by teammates as they all celebrated, Tuipulotu let out a big roar.
And that’s when second rower Luciano Leilua spotted his moment and pounced.
The 114kg veteran stuck his fingers straight into Tuipulotu’s mouth.
The Dragons’ winger barely flinched, only shaking his head in an apparent effort to free himself, but the incident was soon discussed on social media.
A post on Reddit using the creative caption “Checking his teammates tonsils” generated hundreds of likes and a wide range of comments.
One wrote: “Just boys being boys, I don’t know what to say.”
Another stated: “Just coz ya my teammate, think I won’t jam my fingers down ya throat.”
A third believed: “If he’d spewed that would have been all time.”
It was unclear if Leilua’s action was intended to be part of “Try July”, an initiative from a bookmaker that donates $5000 to cancer charities whenever players pull off try-scoring celebrations.
If it was meant for Try July, it was an odd choice. If not, well you can make up your own mind on that.
With the Dragons showing vastly improved form under new coach Shane Flanagan this season, coming off a dismal 16th-placed finish in 2023, one fan didn’t care how the club celebrated tries.
“Proud of how these lads have bonded and lifted under Flanno’s leadership,” they wrote. “If they have to finger each other’s mouths to make the top 8 then that’s what they have to do!”
Each to their own.
Other fans were finding it a little harder to decipher the bizarre move.
“How do I explain this to the kids,” one wrote.
“Footy players are weird, man,” added another, in possibly the most accurate comment to date.
The Dragons had another try-celebration fail about six minutes before Leilua’s questionable move and Tuipulotu was again in the thick of the action.
After Mosese Suli crossed the line, his attempt to boot the ball into the crowd was met immediately by the backside of the Dragons’ winger.
A celebrating Tuipulotu quickly fell to the ground as a sheepish Suli laughed and then checked on his teammate.
“Is that a Try July celebration?” Alexander asked.
“I don’t know if this is worth 5k,” Ginnane replied. “He’s almost KO’d Christian Tuipulotu.”
The Dragons have a bye next week before continuing their finals push against the Panthers in Wollongong on July 28.