Canberra star Jordan Rapana is unhappy that an “inconsistency” from the NRL has cost him an opportunity to play in the opening round of the season.

Rapana will serve a one-game ban for drink-driving after the Raiders were told the NRL All Stars game could not count towards suspensions.

Melbourne’s Brandon Smith and New Zealand’s Reece Walsh were given exemptions to include the representative fixture for their own bans.

That prompted Canberra coach Ricky Stuart to tell News Corp the Raiders were “copping it up the a***” from the NRL.

Rapana told AAP he was “just as ticked off” as his coach, particularly after he picked up a two-match ban in the All Stars game for a shoulder charge.

“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t p***** off about it, but it is what it is,” he said.

“I think what got under Ricky’s skin is just the inconsistency around it. 

“I enjoyed representing my culture but they ended up changing it two weeks later, and it should have applied to me as well.

“I should have had every right to play round one.”

Both Smith and Walsh were suspended for off-field incidents and their clubs were content with those only being served in NRL matches until Latrell Mitchell’s application to have the All Stars showpiece counted in his six-game ban was approved.

Mitchell’s ban stemmed from an on-field incident and there are set rules allowing representative matches to count towards suspensions if they would have been picked, but no clear rules for off-field bans.

Rapana did acknowledge his suspension was “the consequences of silly mistakes I’ve made”.

He will still be able to play in round three, with the fullback allowed to serve his on and off-field bans concurrently.

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