NRL 2021 bad boys: What future holds for rugby league’s rogue’s gallery

Adam Elliott is fighting for his NRL future after being added to league’s long list of boys behaving badly. But what does the future hold for other members of the 2021 rogue’s gallery?

Adam Elliott could join a long list of players who have been in the headlines for the wrong reason this season fighting their future. MICHAEL CARAYANNIS on league’s rogue’s gallery.

Paul Vaughan

Host of Covid BBQ breach. Sacked by the Dragons for multiple contract breaches. Fined $50,000 by the NRL and had the final 15 months of his contract worth about $1 million ripped up.

The race to the 2021 NRL Telstra Finals Series is on and every game matters. Watch Live & Ad-Break Free on Kayo. New to Kayo? Try 14-days free >

Paul Vaughan was sacked by the Dragons for multipl;e contract breaches. Picture: Getty Images

Curtis Scott

Charged by police after a nightclub incident. Sacked by the Raiders for multiple contract breaches less than two seasons into a four-year deal. Suspended for three games and fined $15,000 by the NRL.

Jai Arrow

Brought a woman back to the team hotel while in Queensland camp. Was fined $35,000 plus suspended for Origin III which meant he forfeited his $15,000 match payment.

Dylan Walker

Was fined $10,000 by the NRL and handed a one-game suspension after assaulting a pizza shop worker in Sydney’s northern beaches last year. Off-contract at season’s end, is now playing for his future.

Victor Radley copped a two-game suspension and a fine for an incident in Byron Bay. Picture: Chris Hyde/Getty Images

Victor Radley

Tackled a person on the street in Byron Bay last year. Was suspended for two matches and fined $20,000.

Josh Dugan

Multiple Covid-19 breaches. The first resulted in a $25,000 fine after he went out for dinner at a Potts Point restaurant in June. Then he was fined $50,000 for a road-trip breach this month.

Kotoni Staggs

Fined $20,000 and banned for two matches for “disreputable conduct” relating to an incident at a public venue in April. Re-signed with the Broncos on a deal worth about $700,000 a season but again finishes the season injured on the sideline.

Payne Haas

Fined $50,000 and hit with a three-game ban for verbally abusing police in January. Easily the Broncos’ best player and is eyeing a long-term deal at the club.

Payne Haas caused a stir before the season started. Picture: NRL Images

Horsburgh and Harawira-Naera

The Raiders duo were charged with drink driving offences during around Christmas. Horsburgh was fined $5000 and banned for one game while Harawira-Naera missed two games and was fined $10,000. This after he had dramas while at the Bulldogs.

Bondi five

Bulldogs players Dylan Napa, Brandon Wakeham, Corey Waddell, Aaron Schoupp and Sione Katoa breached biosecurity protocols when they attended Eastern Suburbs pubs in July. Napa was fined $5000, Wakeham $1750, Waddell and Katoa $1250 each and Schoupp $250 by the NRL and were also fined by their club.

Api Koroisau

Koroisau was fined $35,000 and suspended for two matches by the NRL and another $15,000 by the NSW Rugby League for bringing a woman into the Blues hotel in Brisbane during
Origin II camp. Unlikely to be picked again.

Api Koroisau is unlikey to be picked for the Blues again after breaching Covid protocols in Origin camp. Picture: David Swift

George Burgess

Charged by police for “malicious damage” following a road rage incident in Wollongong last week and will appear in court on October 19. Due to start with the Dragons in November.

Adam Elliott

Been in the headlines for all the wrong reasons. Was involved in an altercation with former teammate Michael Lichaa earlier this year. Last weekend he was thrown out of a Gold Coast restaurant after being caught with NRLW player Millie Boyle in the toilet and fined $10,000. Fighting for his future when he fronts the club board.

Bulldog hit hard for ‘practical joke’

Outgoing Canterbury half Lachlan Lewis has been whacked with a $10,000 fine for his practical joke gone wrong.

In what Lewis has described to Canterbury officials as a practical joke gone-wrong, the off-contract half tried to sell an NRL-sound speaker on eBay for around $500.

It is understood Lewis - the nephew of NRL champion Wally Lewis - tried to sell the speaker that the NRL had supplied to Canterbury’s team room at their Brisbane hotel.

Lachlan Lewis’s prank will cost him $10,000. Picture: NRL Photos

The item was pulled from sale when a club official was alerted to what was going on.

Lewis had been named to start for the Bulldogs last week but the 25-year-old has played his last game for the club after been stood down. He is off-contract at season’s end and has been told his deal will not be renewed.

Lewis will have to have his registration approved by the NRL before he is allowed to return to the game.

Originally published as NRL 2021 bad boys: What future holds for rugby league’s rogue’s gallery