NRL: Bulldogs jersey drama caused by cleaning bungle

The Bulldogs and Eels clashed in similar strips on Thursday's night. Photo / Getty

The Bulldogs have revealed they weren't able to avoid Thursday night's jersey clash fiasco against the Eels — because the jumpers they needed were at the cleaners.

NRL commentators on Thursday hit out at the "very amateur" appearance of the Bulldogs and Eels both sporting blue jumpers with lighter coloured stripes at ANZ Stadium.

Many viewers complained the similar jerseys made it difficult to follow the action on TV.

It prompted the NRL to issue a "please explain" to the Bulldogs, who accepted blame for the fiasco.

According to reports the NRL plans to review the incident on Monday, but has already concluded the Bulldogs failed to use their predominantly white strip, despite being instructed to by the NRL.

BREAKING: THE @NRL will review Canterbury for failing to wear their predominantly white strip against Parramatta on Thursday night. @telegraph_sport

— Matt Logue (@mattlogue7) July 20, 2018

UPDATE: An @NRL spokesperson told @telegraph_sport: "The NRL will review the circumstances as a matter of course at the end of the round. The Bulldogs were instructed to wear their predominantly white home jersey but the club wore kit which had not been approved for use."

— Matt Logue (@mattlogue7) July 20, 2018

The Sydney Morning Herald has now revealed the Bulldogs became aware of their mistake upon arriving at ANZ Stadium and even contemplated sending an official back to their Belmore headquarters to pick up their home game jerseys.

Unfortunately, the club then realised the jerseys were still at the cleaners after they were also worn during the Bulldogs' round 18 loss to South Sydney at ANZ Stadium last week.

"There was a breakdown in communication," Canterbury's football manager Gareth Holmes told Fairfax Media.

"We had put in a submission at the start of the season to wear a special-event jersey we had for the Parramatta game. It was a Dogs of War jersey, but it was denied.

"I can only assume it was denied because it was a darker shade of blue and similar to the jersey worn by Parramatta.

"We were told to wear the home jersey but that got missed and because we were the away team we turned up with the away jerseys.

"We looked at making a last-minute dash to get the other jerseys but because we had worn them last Saturday [against South Sydney] they were still in at the cleaners."

Memo @NRL: a team wearing blue hooped jerseys versus a team wearing blue hooped jerseys is a visually unappealing spectacle. Whatever happened to alternate strips? I’d suggest taking a look at what’s happening in the NFL re uniforms in the video game era. #NRLEelsBulldogs pic.twitter.com/LdnbUvmKrX

— Warren Smith (@WarrenSmithFOX) July 19, 2018