A man has been charged after Canberra players were targeted by a bottle thrower during an NRL game against Canterbury at Belmore Sportsground.

The glass bourbon bottle was thrown towards the Raiders’ bench, but police said it shattered near a fence during the Bulldogs game against the Raiders on Monday night.

A 39-year-old man was on Wednesday arrested at Rouse Hill and charged with behaving in an offensive manner in a public place.

He has been given conditional bail to appear in Parramatta Local Court on April 27.

Canterbury said on Tuesday it would move to significantly tighten security at Belmore for their remaining match at the ground this season – against North Queensland in round 25 in late August – following the incident.

An increased police and security presence as well as more lighting and mobile CCTV cameras are likely to be brought in.

Police appealed for help on Tuesday to identify the person who tossed the bottle at the Raiders’ interchange bench during the second half of Canberra’s emotion-charged round-five win.

Efforts by the Bulldogs and police to catch the culprit, who fled the ground after the incident, were allegedly stymied by uncooperative witnesses and a lack of CCTV footage.

Reports said the bottle narrowly missed Raiders players on the sideline, instead hitting one of the club’s exercise bikes.

It was thrown from the Bulldogs members’ area in the western concourse and club boss Raelene Castle said on Monday night Canterbury were confident they knew who threw it.

The incident brought back memories of last year’s ‘Bad Friday’ crowd trouble at ANZ Stadium.

Canterbury successfully used CCTV footage last year to identify those who showered match officials with bottles following the spiteful Good Friday clash with South Sydney.