A Scoring Object is considered to be legally preloaded if it is touching the Robot or a legal Preload, **and would not be considered Scored if there was no contact with a Robot. **Preloads may also not be touching any Goal
The wording of the bolded section is a bit confusing, but what my team got out of it is, in simplest terms: A Scoring Object may not be inside of a goal as a legal preload.
The closest analogy we could come up with was the “cheap scorer” in Round Up, where a tube would be suspended around, but not touching, a wall post – when the robot drove away, the tube would then be scored. So our question is: a similar tactic (suspending a Scoring Object inside, but not touching the goal) would NOT be legal in Gateway, correct?
Your analysis of the situation is correct. The intent of <G2> is to disallow Scoring Objects from being in a scored position prior to the start of the match. The reason for the specific wording you bolded, is to make it clear that we are ignoring that a Scoring Object is not in a Scored position if it is being touched by a Robot of the same colour.
Summing it all up, no Preloaded Scoring Objects inside a Goal or the projection of the plane of the Goal.