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contracted players involved in an incident in Wollongong Saturday night.

N

nrlnrl

First Grade
Messages
6,833
coast_dragons said:
Lafai and Havili if the club is fair dinkum should get the arse.

Neilson and Founa Blake did.

Garvey was the only real mistake they made and he should have been punted straight away to.
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It would depend on their contracts & off-field record, plus the outcome of court case & the charges that eventuate. From what I know Fonua-Blake was on his last chance. Plus he & Nielsen's incidents involved women. I'm not condoning the alleged actions of both last weekend, just saying the action by most clubs seems to be harsher when females are involved. (understandably so) I realise Auva'a & Lui were fortunate not to be sacked.
 
blacksafake

blacksafake

First Grade
Messages
8,991
Players' Association lashes St George Illawarra Dragons over standing down of Lafai and Havili



The player's association has lashed St George Illawarra for their decision to stand down Tim Lafai and Siliva Havili, claiming the embattled club has failed to adhere to the "proper process" for such matters.

Lafai and Havili were absent from Dragons training on Tuesday as the the club and NRL Integrity Unit continue investigations into two incidents in the early hours of Sunday morning.


A Port Kembla man spoke to Fairfax Media on Monday alleging he was knocked unconscious by Havili outside popular nightspot Fever. He later attended hospital to receive treatment for a head wound.

Havili and Lafai were later arrested in Crown Street about 5am after CCTV cameras allegedly captured them fighting with three men outside a 7-11, in a conflict not linked to the incident at Fever. They were subsequently charged with affray and offensive behaviour and will appear in Wollongong Local Court on September 6.

The Rugby League Players' Association stressed it does not condone player misbehaviour, but said its members needed to be treated consistently and in accordance with the game's code of conduct.

"The RLPA has offered our legal and wellbeing support to the players involved," said the RLPA's general counsel Tim Lythe.

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"While we are still in the process of gathering all of the relevant information, we have concerns generally about players being stood down, effective immediately, without the proper process being followed as appears to be the case here.

"I need to emphasise that we absolutely support players being held accountable for their actions and that a process can be completed in a very short timeframe. But for the sake of fairness, consistency and integrity for all regarding how these matters are managed by the game, the agreed process must be respected.
Charged: Dragons centre Tim Lafai will face court on September 6. Photo: Adam McLean
"Provisional suspensions have their place where appropriate circumstances exist but we would be concerned if this is being used to implement disciplinary action when the criminal matters are yet to be dealt with. Standing a player down immediately has the effect of disadvantaging the player in their employment and potentially undermining the integrity of the criminal justice system, so this action needs to be warranted by the circumstances."

The union and other NRL clubs have raised concerns about players not being sanctioned consistently. Parramatta playmaker Corey Norman was allowed to continue playing after being charged with drugs possession and was only suspended for that and other off-field incidents following his court case. There is also a feeling the Dragons have applied double standards by allowing coach Paul McGregor to continue coaching after pleading guilty to driving under the influence, while Lafai and Havili have immediately been suspended before their court case is resolved.
Far from happy: Dragons forward Siliva Havili (right) has been stood down. Photo: Getty Images
"The St George Illawarra Dragons have determined to stand down contracted players Siliva Havili and Tim Lafai, effective immediately and until further notice, from all club activities, for breaching the club's code of conduct," the Dragons said in a statement.

"The NRL Integrity Unit has been informed and the club has arranged counselling for both players. The matter is to be considered by the courts system and as such, the club will not be making any further comment, at this time."

Skipper Gareth Widdop was left to front the media on Tuesday and was tight-lipped on the incident, which comes amid heavy criticism of his side's on-field performance following three straight losses.

"The NRL Integrity Unit is dealing with that and that's all I can say on that at the moment," Widdop said.

"It's hard to comment because we don't know exactly what's gone on but it's not ideal. It's being investigated, the NRL are doing their best to resolve it and until then it's hard to comment.

"We don't really know what's happened yet that's the problem at the moment. There's two sides to every story.

"Things like this aren't ideal but, in terms of the playing group, there's nothing we can do about what's going on outside [the club]. Our job's to go out there and perform and we need to [because] the last few weeks have been a little bit disappointing.

"We took a step in the right direction on the weekend [against the Tigers] but we need to play for a lot longer, for 80 minutes. It's in our hands, we've got a big game on Friday and that's our focus at the moment."


http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league
 
G

getsmarty

Immortal
Messages
33,485
'We were outnumbered' - Tim Lafai defends St George Illawarra Dragons players involved in Fever Nightclub street brawl
ANGELA THOMPSON
28 Jul 2016, 5 p.m.

Watch as a driver comes across the brawl near Fever nightclub last weekend.

  • r0_40_2567_1483_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg
  • r0_0_3407_1915_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg




Tim Lafai.
Beleaguered Dragons centre Tim Lafai claims he and his “boys” were outnumbered and forced to defend themselves during a wild brawl that spilled out of a Wollongong nightclub in the early hours of Sunday.

Police have charged Lafai and teammate Siliva Havili after CCTV cameras allegedly captured the pair getting amongst the 5am melee.

In text messages obtained by the Mercury, Lafai defends his group against accusations of “dog shotting”, or coward punching.

“We’ve never liked fighting, it’s the last thing we wanted, we were out numbered (sic) there was only 4 of us and it seemed like there were a lot of boys who were trying to fight us,” he said.

“Two of our own mates got dog shot and that’s what kept sparking things up.”

The texts form part of an exchange between Lafai and a friend of Port Kembla man Reed Harris, 26.

Mr Harris was hit to the head and knocked unconscious outside Atchison Street nightclub Fever.

He has told the Mercury he was a bystander to earlier conflict inside the club, involving a group of his friends and a group that included Dragons players Lafai, Havili and Dunamis Lui.

Mr Harris says he later became involved in a “scuffle” with Havili outside.

His brother Deejay witnessed the hit that rendered him unconscious, and claims it was leveled by Havili.

Elsewhere in the exchange of messages Lafai says: “Hope your brother [Mr Harris] is alright but we never dog shotted any of the boys we were just trying to defend ourselves, sorry again for your bro I honestly hope he’s ok. God bless”.

“We don’t go out to start fights too bro … maybe it wasn’t one of your boys that dog shotted one of ours but like I said, the boys said they’re sorry and I’m sure the boys you know in the team will say that we don’t like starting trouble”.

Channel 7 is reporting Havili “hit the deck” during fighting inside Fever, and that heckling by some patrons over the Dragons’ awful recent form sparked the conflict.

Mr Harris told the Mercury he believes he was mistaken for one of the men involved in the fighting upstairs.

Dashcam video captured outside Fever that morning shows a taxi hurriedly reversing the wrong way out of one-way Atchison Street as the roadway is flooded with agitated men and security staff.

The brawl had dispersed by the time police arrived, but later resumed outside 7-Eleven.

Lafai and Havili were arrested when they disobeyed a police directive. They were charged with affray and offensive behaviour on Monday evening and have been stood down from all club activities.

http://www.illawarramercury.com.au/...defends-dragons-street-brawlers-video/?cs=302
 
D

Dragons1986

Juniors
Messages
54
Not a fan of Lafai and haven't seen much of Havilli, But how about we see how much of it is true before going off, IF it is, then yes, sack them as it is terrible, I for one will wait til it's dealt with first though.
 
FlameThrower

FlameThrower

Bench
Messages
3,557
getsmarty said:
'We were outnumbered' - Tim Lafai defends St George Illawarra Dragons players involved in Fever Nightclub street brawl
ANGELA THOMPSON
28 Jul 2016, 5 p.m.

Watch as a driver comes across the brawl near Fever nightclub last weekend.

Tim Lafai.
Beleaguered Dragons centre Tim Lafai claims he and his “boys” were outnumbered and forced to defend themselves during a wild brawl that spilled out of a Wollongong nightclub in the early hours of Sunday.

Police have charged Lafai and teammate Siliva Havili after CCTV cameras allegedly captured the pair getting amongst the 5am melee.

In text messages obtained by the Mercury, Lafai defends his group against accusations of “dog shotting”, or coward punching.

“We’ve never liked fighting, it’s the last thing we wanted, we were out numbered (sic) there was only 4 of us and it seemed like there were a lot of boys who were trying to fight us,” he said.

“Two of our own mates got dog shot and that’s what kept sparking things up.”

The texts form part of an exchange between Lafai and a friend of Port Kembla man Reed Harris, 26.

Mr Harris was hit to the head and knocked unconscious outside Atchison Street nightclub Fever.

He has told the Mercury he was a bystander to earlier conflict inside the club, involving a group of his friends and a group that included Dragons players Lafai, Havili and Dunamis Lui.

Mr Harris says he later became involved in a “scuffle” with Havili outside.

His brother Deejay witnessed the hit that rendered him unconscious, and claims it was leveled by Havili.

Elsewhere in the exchange of messages Lafai says: “Hope your brother [Mr Harris] is alright but we never dog shotted any of the boys we were just trying to defend ourselves, sorry again for your bro I honestly hope he’s ok. God bless”.

“We don’t go out to start fights too bro … maybe it wasn’t one of your boys that dog shotted one of ours but like I said, the boys said they’re sorry and I’m sure the boys you know in the team will say that we don’t like starting trouble”.

Channel 7 is reporting Havili “hit the deck” during fighting inside Fever, and that heckling by some patrons over the Dragons’ awful recent form sparked the conflict.

Mr Harris told the Mercury he believes he was mistaken for one of the men involved in the fighting upstairs.

Dashcam video captured outside Fever that morning shows a taxi hurriedly reversing the wrong way out of one-way Atchison Street as the roadway is flooded with agitated men and security staff.

The brawl had dispersed by the time police arrived, but later resumed outside 7-Eleven.

Lafai and Havili were arrested when they disobeyed a police directive. They were charged with affray and offensive behaviour on Monday evening and have been stood down from all club activities.

http://www.illawarramercury.com.au/...defends-dragons-street-brawlers-video/?cs=302
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Can someone please translate this into English? I have no idea what they are talking about. It sounds like family reunion gone bad with brothers and cousins having an argument??
 
grouch

grouch

First Grade
Messages
8,393
getsmarty said:
Channel 7 is reporting Havili “hit the deck” during fighting inside Fever, and that heckling by some patrons over the Dragons’ awful recent form sparked the conflict.
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Not sure why Havili would be offended by this. He should be joining the heckling!
 
possm

possm

Coach
Messages
15,591
grouch said:
Not sure why Havili would be offended by this. He should be joining the heckling!
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Hopefully this will give the Club an opportunity to sack the three of them. If we also get rid of our coaching staff it should give the new coaching staff some room to move for next season.
 
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