http://www.smh.com.au/news/league/-...-stole-the-show/2006/06/14/1149964608568.html
... and five rookie Blues stole the show
Brad Walter and Glenn Jackson
June 15, 2006
THEY are five future stars of NSW rugby league, but they were sent home in disgrace from the State of Origin yesterday. All because of a stupid prank.
Some of the boys were filmed stealing items from a surf shop at Sydney Airport on Monday, as they travelled to Queensland where they were supposed to play in the State of Origin curtain-raiser last night.
When the store owner reviewed security footage, it was not hard for him to work out who the boys were. The NSW under-17s players were wearing their team tracksuits.
Their goal? To feature the stolen items - such as belt buckles and T-shirts - in a team photo.
It is unclear who stole the items, but all those in the shop at the time were sent home. They are: Jason Baitieri, the son of the league's international development manager and former Canterbury star Tas Baitieri; Dominique Peyroux from the Sydney Roosters; Chase Stanley from St George; Fred Pakutoa from Cronulla; and Ben Sione from Canberra.
The shamed players, accompanied by parents or guardians, revisited the shop when they arrived back in Sydney to apologise to the owner.
Tas Baitieri said of his son: "He is shattered and devastated by what he has done and I am concerned for his welfare because he knows that his actions have hurt me as well as him."
Baitieri, who once coached France and is credited with pioneering league in Russia, said: "He deeply regrets it. He knows what he has done is wrong and that he has to pay the price for it, but hopefully this will make him a better person.
"When I picked him up from the airport I took him back to the shop to apologise and the owner understood the severity of the punishment he had received by not being able to play in the match," Mr Baitieri said.
The Herald has been told that it is common practice for players to smuggle unusual items into official team photos, and this might have been their motive.
"It's pretty clear the kids didn't see it as any more than a prank at the time, but that is no excuse in the end," said the NSWRL general manager, Geoff Carr.
"We are talking about boys under the age of 18 who now have to face their families and the repercussions of their actions. It's a tough lesson but an important one, in terms of what is expected of representative teams."
The store owner contacted NSWRL officials after viewing the surveillance footage. After an investigation by team management, the players were stood down on Tuesday night for breaching the league's code of conduct and flew back to Sydney yesterday morning, hours before they were to play their Queensland counterparts at Suncorp Stadium.
Team management quickly drafted in replacements. The stolen items were described by officials as "low cost" and "trivial".
Mr Carr said: "They just made a stupid decision. Someone's had a joke, picked something up, another kid's picked something up. They were giggling and laughing, but they're certainly not giggling now. It was an exercise in gross stupidity."
