Dragons hit with $305,000 in fines, Vaughan banned eight weeks
Author:
NRL.com Timestamp: Mon 5 Jul 2021, 06:03 PM
The NRL has announced hefty fines and bans for the 13 St George Illawarra players who breached the game's biosecurity protocols when they attended a gathering at prop Paul Vaughan's house.
Vaughan has been issued with an eight-match suspension and a $50,000 fine for inviting 12 players to his home in Shellharbour on Saturday, in breach of NSW Public Health Orders and the game’s biosecurity protocols.
The NRL alleged a number of players hid or fled the residence when NSW Police attended the home after complaints from neighbours.
It’s also alleged that a number of players gave or were involved in giving misleading information about the event during the NRL’s investigation into the breaches and that some of the players conspired to withhold key information from the NRL.
The notices allege that all players involved knowingly breached the game’s biosecurity rules by attending the premeditated gathering. They were made aware of the game’s biosecurity protocols by the club and admit they knew they were breaching the game’s rules.
Vaughan has previously been sanctioned by the NRL for breaches of the biosecurity rules in 2020.
The proposed sanctions for all other players who attended the gathering include one-match suspensions and fines. The total fines for all players amount to $305,000.
Players serving one-match suspensions will be split across a minimum of two and a maximum of four rounds to ensure the Dragons have enough players available to field a squad each week.
The fines take into account past indiscretions and the varying salaries of the players.
- Blake Lawrie - $20,000
- Corey Norman - $50,000
- Daniel Alvaro - $15,000
- Jack Bird - $25,000
- Josh Kerr - $18,000
- Josh McGuire - $12,000
- Kaide Ellis $5000
- Matt Dufty $23,000
- Paul Vaughan - $50,000
- Tyrell Fuimaono - $12,000
- Zac Lomax $31,000
- Jack de Belin - $42,000
- Gerard Beale $2000
NRL Chief Executive Andrew Abdo said the game alleges the players deliberately put at risk the continuity of the competition.
“In our view the actions of the players were deliberate and some of the players withheld key information from the Integrity Unit,’’ he said.
“On the information we have, the players understood the protocols and deliberately chose to ignore them, they chose to risk the continuity of our competition. The sanctions handed down today puts every player in the game on notice, particularly repeat offenders – this sort of conduct will not be tolerated.
“There are many people working incredibly hard to keep the competition going – it’s a privilege to play football, not a right. We’ve made promises to the community and to state governments and we will do everything we can to honour those promises.
"I want to stress that there are almost 900 players and officials following strict biosecurity measures and the overwhelming number are doing the right thing, as they did last year.
“We will continue to work with all clubs and state governments to ensure compliance, the health and safety of the community, our players and officials the continuity of the competition.”
The players have five business days to respond to the breach notices.
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