Eastern Suburbs have lost their third appeal against having seven points docked for playing all-rounder Trent Park without a clearance from Stockton in the opening two games of the season.
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Easts defeated Kurri Weston in round one and then lost to Thornton in round two. The six points for the win were docked and given to the Warriors and the Griffins did not receive any points in round two.
The decision by the Central North Cricket committee means that Kurri Weston will retain fourth spot and play in the semi-finals irrespective of results in the final round if play is possible on Saturday
A washed out final round would have denied the Griffins a chance to claim fourth spot even if they had won the appeal as they would finish on 29 points and Kurri Weston on 30.
Griffins president Charles Willacy learnt of the decision on Wednesday but has not received the official ruling for why their appeal had failed.
"The players are being punished for an administrative error that had no material impact on the competition," an angry Willacy said.
"None of the clearances were knocked back, none of the players were unfinancial and it just boggles my mind that we've ended up in this spot.
"For some reason MyCricket does not pick up that a clearance is required when a player is being registered.
"According to them the bylaws are black and white, but the precedent has been set for other bylaws to be changed during the season.
"The bylaw dates back to when transfer and registrations were dealt with by paper forms not a digital system like MyCricket.
"The only further appeal is appealing to Cricket NSW but the last round of the season is this week and it certainly feels like how the appeals have dragged on to this stage that it almost makes it redundant other than to do the right thing by the club.
"The Central North decision took five to six weeks and we still haven't got the official ruling."
Easts had blamed an administrative error using the MyCricket website for not having a clearance in place for Park and another player in a similar situation in fourth grade.
They said they had mistakenly believed that when the registration went through it meant there were no impediments to them playing such as a clearance being required from their previous club.
In their appeal Easts said there had been no malice in anything they had done and that being docked seven points was too heavy a penalty for the infringement.
Maitland and District Cricket Association president Mark Warland said it was clear there was no malice from Easts but three appeals had found the right decision had been made in how they were dealt with.
"They appealed to Hunter Valley and they knocked it back, and they wanted to appeal again so it went to Central North Zone. If those two councils above us have found against them, there's not much else we can do," Warland said.
"It's just unfortunate that they did not follow the process properly and they got picked up. The grading and permit chairperson and committee followed the bylaws and applied the process."
Warland said the decision meant that Kurri Weston kept the six points from round one and would finish fourth irrespective of results in the final round if the east coast low doesn't wash it out.
Going into the final round minor premiers Western Suburbs sit on top with 58 points, City United are second on 44, Thornton third on 39, Kurri Weston fourth on 35.
Outside the top four Raymond Terrace are fifth on 28 points, Northern Suburbs sixth on 25, Easts seventh on 22 and Tenambit Morpeth last on 19.
In the final round Wests are due to host City, Thornton are at home to Raymond Terrace, Tenambit Morpeth play East at Morpeth Oval and Kurri Weston take on Northern Suburbs at Kurri Central.
