Okunbor and Harawira-Naera were deregistered as players on April 1 following breaches to codes of conduct for the NRL and the Bulldogs club during a pre-season trip to Port Macquarie in late February.

That trip included visits by Bulldogs players to various schools within the Port Macquarie-Hastings area.

Club chief executive Andrew Hill said at the time the duo had "breached the game's and the club's code of conduct" policies.

They also confirmed through an online statement that the breaches related to the players bringing young women of a consensual age back to the team hotel.

But an independent hearing has overturned their deregistration on appeal and leaves more questions than it answers.

Group 3 chief executive officer Mal Drury was reluctant to be drawn into commenting, saying there were other after-effects of hosting the trial that were still being felt.

"It's hard to comment because we don't know the ins and outs of everything, so we'd rather leave it as is and what's been and done," he said.

Hosting future NRL trials now remained up in the air due to financial impacts.

"If they want to come here in future, it will be discussed at great length and something we will consider moving forward, but it's been a futile exercise in a lot of ways," Drury said.

Under the alternate sanctions put in place by the NRL appeals committee, Okunbor was suspended for 14 matches, fined $22,500 and will undergo counselling or community service as the NRL chief executive directs.

Harawira-Naera was suspended for 10 matches and hit with a fine of $15,000.

"The NRL took the action which it considered necessary given the serious breaches of the Code of Conduct - breaches the Appeals Committee also found to be serious," NRL acting CEO Andrew Abdo said.

"The independent appeals committee has taken a different view on what penalty the players should face and although we are disappointed, we respect the outcome."

Canterbury released a statement on Monday advising they had been informed by the NRL of the appeal process result.

"We are now working with the NRL to determine how this process will be implemented and will await further advice from the NRL on the next stage," the statement read.

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