NRL boss Andrew Abdo says he is “gutted” by St George Illawara’s players breaching virus protocols and placing the season at risk.
The NRL has come down hard on the 13 players who broke stay-at-home orders to party at Paul Vaughan’s barbeque on Saturday.
They were handed a combined fine of $305,000, as well as issued with one-game suspensions, with the bans to be served over the next month.
Abdo said he was frustrated and disappointed by their actions.
This was premeditated,” Abdo told Channel Nine. “The protocols were clear to all the players, they understand what they could and couldn’t do. They still decided to do it. That’s the first issue.
“The second issue is the fact that they withheld information from us that was disappointing. But we have taken a stance that we believe is balanced and fair. There are strong financial penalties. The players are going to have to miss a match each.
“But we also didn’t want to punish the rest of the Dragons’ club and their fans and the competition. We have to take that into account too.”
The breach in protocols has placed the season in jeopardy, with the NRL allowed to continue providing their players adhere to strict conditions and biosecure bubbles.
“When I think about all that’s at stake and I think about how many people are working incredibly hard to keep our competition going and keep the community safe, yeah, I was gutted,” said Abdo.
“But we’ve worked incredibly hard in two days to get to the bottom of what happened. Our integrity team did a terrific job.
“We’ve now dealt with it. The players understand the consequences and I think it sends a message to all the other players too, that we won’t tolerate any breaches of those protocols. They are critical to keep the season going.”