As promised, here is the response from a national ref trainer. I was WRONG! Pretty much verbatim what verbatim what Surfref said (I probably owe a few of you lunch). I fully understand that offside position is not offside but I obviously read more into "intefere" and "active in play" than was there.
"No. It is a tactic and would be acceptable. Any defending team which “bought” this would have to have their minds stuck in the muck of the bad old (long ago old) days when officials signaled for offside based solely on the position. For more than the last 14 years (since 2005), referee training has emphasized (a) that an offside offense has not occurred unless and until the player touches the ball or interferes with an opponent (“interfere” does not include “confuse”) and (b) that when two attackers are running for the ball, one from an onside position and one from an offside position, the referee must wait to see which player gets to the ball first."