Chopah doesn't quite have it right.
There are three things that must be done for a player to be eligible to play for a team in the national league.
1. The player must be registered with the club. This is done in Comet, as all registrations at all levels of the game are.
2. The player must sign an Amateur Player Agreement (ie a contract) with the club. That agreement then has to be uploaded to the player's profile in Comet.
3. The player must be aded to the team's list of registered players, which can't contain more than 23 names. Players can be added to this list at any time, until it contains 23, but the only time names can be removed is during the mid-season transfer window. This is done in a spreadsheet to be shared with NZ Football and the other clubs.
Step 3 is what wasn't done in this case, for two players – one of whom came off the bench, one of whom didn't. It is a two-minute job, and it has been part of the process longer than Comet has. It is in no way an extra bit of admin and it has been done fine for 200-odd other players in the league.
Quite frankly, checking matchday squads against the lists of registered players should be a Monday morning job in the NZF competitions department, so that every instance is caught and clubs who flag issues don't cop undeserved flak, as Tasman have in this case.