Canberra’s hopes of causing an NRL grand final upset has suffered an early blow thanks to a bizarre play involving the Sydney Roosters trainer.

In their second set at ANZ Stadium on Sunday night, a kick by Roosters five-eighth Luke Keary was charged down by Raiders prop Sia Soliola but the rebound hit the trainer, who was behind the play.

Canberra’s Elliott Whitehead was racing to collect the ball but as the ball hit the trainer play stopped and as the attacking team, the Roosters got the scrum feed and another set.

According to the NRL rules: “Where play is irregularly affected in the field of play, the referee shall restart play with a scrum with the attacking team to receive the loose head and feed.”

While within the rules, veteran Nine commentator Phil Gould said the Raiders were hard done by.

‘That could’ve been a try under the posts,'” Gould said.

The Roosters forced a goal-line dropout and in the next set young hooker Sam Verrills dived across the line next to the posts, with Latrell Mitchell converting for a 6-0 lead.