And there you go, I was wondering how long it would take a club to make a mockery of the rule.
There's only two incidents where I'd be OK with exceptions being made. The first is Origin which can be a lottery for some teams and the other is a Wayne Pearce Final Destination style bonding session. Any other scenario the team should have to suck it up.
You can't tell me the Cows couldn't have covered him. They've got Ben Hampton and Kalyn Ponga in their 21 man squad, they could have easily just sucked it up and played them. Or better yet, push Asiata back into the halves where he's played before.
In saying that, I feel sorry for the Cowboys. They have a premiership winning squad and they just keep getting messed around by injury. They'll have another bite of the cherry next year but after that it could be some lean years.