I was under the impression that for UQ to have 4 teams there had to be two definative lists, and clearances or permits the only way people can be moved between those lists.
That's correct. It's a paperwork nightmare. At June 30, players get locked into one list or the other.
In Saturday's game, there were a mixture of reasons why a few players played down. Some are coming back from injury, some are struggling for form. There's a few players who played much of last year in Div 1 ressies, but probably won't make it into that side this year (Div 2 ressies now). There were also a number of new faces for the club out there, a couple of who might now get pushed up a Division.
You should see a bit more movement of players between our two Divisions this year. As Paddlepop33 said, we're training more as a unified squad this year, which gives a better chance to work out who our second 22 is each week. We had four guys push up from Div 2 Seniors to Div 1 ressies last year, but there probably should have been more if we were being honest about it.