Telegraph:
THE player rumoured to be at the centre of Kangaroo tour theft allegations became a social outcast towards the end of the trip.
It can also be revealed that tour vice-captain Robbie Kearns, and Craig Gower were the two players along with Shane Webcke who had money stolen on the tour.
Kearns lost a total of £900 ($2107) over a 10-day period after the thief found his money hidden in a small brief case in a side compartment of his travelling luggage.
An elaborate sting operation involving hidden video cameras in the players' rooms was set up at the team's Marriott Hotel, but it failed to turn up the thief.
The player rumoured to be at the middle of allegations was unable to be contacted yesterday. However it can be revealed his welcome within the team had worn out by tour's end.
Also, Kangaroo captain Darren Lockyer, as well as other players on tour, have revealed they are unsure whether they had money stolen because they did not keep an accurate count.
"I don't know whether I had money taken or not, I wasn't really counting," said Lockyer, who kept his money in a drawer beside his bed.
"Being the captain of the team I just wanted to listen to what the other players, who did have money taken, had to say to team management."
ARL chief executive Geoff Carr expected to receive a report from tour manager Gerard Raper yesterday, however Raper is waiting to talk to players still to return from overseas before submitting the report.
A frustrated Carr said the matter needed to be resolved as quickly as possible.
"We are happy to come clean on what we think may or may not have happened but now we need time to investigate it properly," he said.
"But one of the problems we have got now is the fact that, while we haven't tried to protect anyone, now we have got people ringing up blaming different players who are definitely not involved."
One player, an innocent party, has been wrongly mentioned as a suspect.
Trouble began early in the tour when a trainer believed he had money missing but remained quiet, unsure whether he had misplaced it or even spent it.
Then towards the tour's end Kearns noticed that he had £400 ($937) missing from his room.
"I had been keeping an eye on my money and at first I thought I must have miscounted when it appeared that £400 was missing," he said.
"Then I counted it again a couple of days later and noticed another £500 [$1170] was gone.
"That was when the senior players got together and worked out that something was going on."
Kangaroos debutant Trent Waterhouse has also revealed his Second Test jumper was stolen from his room.
"I don't know whether I had money taken or not but I would have rather had money taken than my jumper," Waterhouse said.
Kearns met Lockyer and Webcke to discuss the situation and they decided to take the matter to management.
"After we spoke to Gerard Raper they decided it would be a good idea to set up a bit of a sting, but they only did it for one day," Kearns said.
Video cameras were set up in the players' rooms but were unable to provide any convincing evidence.
But by then suspicions had began to focus on one player.
Players were paid £100 per day, tax free, for the tour, up from a £70 daily allowance on previous tours.
They received the stipend fortnightly at the beginning of the tour, however by the time the Roos had moved to Leeds they were being paid weekly.
The process worked by Raper withdrawing the money from a bank account before dealing it out to the players at the hotel.
To prevent players carrying large amounts of cash they were given the option of a deferred payment, or to use the hotel's safes and security boxes.
This process will now be reviewed.
"We'll review that process now since some players were determined to keep too much money in their rooms," Carr said.
Carr said he was not certain Leeds police are aware of the matter but expected them to be so.
He said the matter was handled by the Kangaroos' security officer Gary Haigh, a former Yorkshire inspector.
"There's no way Gary would have handled this in isolation," he said.
