The St George Illawarra Dragons have been handed a boost ahead of their season kicking off, with Luciano Leilua seemingly earning a halving of his two-match suspension.
Leilua was slapped with a fine and two-match suspension by the NRL after he was handed a breach notice for failing to notify his former club the North Queensland Cowboys of a low-range drink driving offence.
Leilua was stopped by police on January 21, recording a blood alcohol reading of 0.052. He was suspended from driving for a month and fined $300 at court on February 7 in Townsville.
The second-rower, who was released by the Cowboys to join the club he made his NRL debut at late in the pre-season, was listed as a Round 2 return in the Dragons' medical and suspension report attached to their team list for this Saturday's clash to open their season away from home against the Gold Coast Titans.
That would mean Leilua has earned a reprieve, with News Corp reporting the forward and club appealed the decision, and were successful in reducing it to a single week.
The successful appeal would mean the forward is now available to play against the Dolphins in Round 2, with the Dragons starting their season in a two-leg Queensland trip.
The Dragons said recently they knew before signing Leilua that a potential breach notice could have been handed down for the incident.
Hame Sele, who joined the Dragons from the South Sydney Rabbitohs, is also out for the opening week of the season as he recovers from a hamstring injury.
The Dragons have named Tom Eisenhuth and Jaydn Su'A to start in the second-row, with Raymond Faitala-Mariner the back-up edge forward on the bench after he made a late off-season switch to the Red V from the Canterbury Bulldogs.
