The 12 St George Illawarra players who attended Paul Vaughan’s house party are close to signing off on a revised document that will allow them to immediately emerge from their COVID hold and allow the club to field a competitive side against Manly next week.
The NRL has put forward a proposal to allow the “dirty dozen” to rejoin their teammates at training if they provide assurances that no other members of the public – including wives and girlfriends – were at Vaughan’s house party. The parties have been negotiating what that document looks like and the Rugby League Players’ Association has become involved in the process.
The NRL was initially seeking a statutory declaration from the players, but the union has pushed back given it could set a precedent on players signing similar documents in the future when they are under duress. Falsifying a statutory document is a criminal offence that can lead to jail time.
Instead, the players will likely only be required to sign a sworn statement, although the governing body will be able to come down with strong sanctions if the information contained is false or misleading.
There has also been back and forth between the parties over the wording, although it’s expected a resolution will be reached later on Saturday.
The development will result in the players returning to training alongside their teammates and cutting short a self-isolation period of 14 days.
The parties were desperate to get the deal done given NSW Cup players, who have been outside of the biosecurity bubble, would not have been considered for Friday’s clash with the Sea Eagles. If it can be signed off then Blake Lawrie, Corey Norman, Daniel Alvaro, Jack Bird, Josh Kerr, Josh McGuire, Kaide Ellis, Matt Dufty, Tyrell Fuimaono, Zac Lomax, Gerard Beale and Jack de Belin will be eligible for selection even though some will be required to serve a suspension.
The Dragons are working out the best way to stagger the suspensions, which must be served over the course of between two to four rounds. That effectively means the Red V won’t be able to sit out more than six players for any one game to ensure the integrity of the competition.
The Dragons tore up the $800,000-a-year contract of Vaughan after the
Herald revealed a sexting scandal was one of three behavioural breaches he had been guilty of while at the club.
The players’ union claims there would be fewer biosecurity bubble breaches if the NRL took the AFL’s lead in punishing players.
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