And talk about something happening. It's safe to say Savage will never forget his NRL debut.

He came on after half-time in the Raiders' 22-20 loss to St George Illawarra on Saturday, brought on illegally as the 18^th man as a replacement for Sebastian Kris.

Kris failed his head injury assessment after Dragons second-rower Jack Bird caught him high just before the break.

Raiders coach Ricky Stuart mistakenly thought he could bring Savage on, but the rules - which were only introduced midway through this season - state the 18^th man can only be activated if three players fail their HIA or a player was lost due to foul play and the offending player was sent off or sent to the sin bin.

Given Bird was only put on report that meant Savage couldn't be used.

It took 12 minutes before the NRL realised an error had been made and Savage was brought off - still with a massive smile on his face.

Stuart put his hand up after the game, admitting he'd made a mistake.

Savage was still blown away by the experience, the 19-year-old from Cairns making sure his family was there just in case he got a run.

"I got my mum and my sister to fly down just in case. I was so glad they came," he said.

"It's was a bit unusual from normal debuts, but the chance I did get to play out there I took it with both hands and I was excited.

"It felt like I was in primary school again, like it's your first day of school - you're nervous, but you're excited as well ... many more games to come hopefully."

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In a sign of just how popular Savage was within the Green Machine, his teammates rushed to embrace him when he was brought on just after half-time.

And he went straight to his mum and sister when he came off - although he revealed he'd thought he'd done something wrong during his 12-minute stint.

He made one run for 11 metres and one tackle, as well as missing one, during his brief debut.

Savage felt he owed his mum after all she'd done raising him and his three sisters on her own.

Like her, he was a star of the track - a junior Queensland champion in the 100m, 200m and long jump.

"I thought I'd made a mistake or something. I was like, 'I'm sorry', I was apologising to them, 'What did I do?'," he said.

"It was an unusual debut, but I'll take it."

Savage has been playing NSW Cup this season at either fullback or on the wing, having been recruited from Far North Queensland, but was named 18^th man for the first time.

Stuart felt it would be the first of many NRL games.

"I just said to him after the game, 'At least you got a taste mate'," he said.

"He's a great young kid and there's a lot of first grade ahead of him. He'll certainly have a story to tell his kids one day in regards to how he got his first taste."