‘Take off your head‘: Bulldogs stars slammed for ‘crippling’ club

Five Bulldogs players have come under fire for breaching Covid-19 rules, which have “crippled” their club and could derail the competition.

Ray Hadley and Dylan Napa

Ray Hadley has slammed the five Bulldogs players who have “crippled” the club as their Covid-19 breaches threaten to derail the game.

Five Canterbury players – Sione Katoa, Corey Waddell, Dylan Napa, Brandon Wakeham and Aaron Schoupp – attended a Sydney pub, a listed exposure site on Sunday.

The Bulldogs were forced to name three debutants – Falakiko Manu, Bailey Biondi Odo and Chris Patolo – on Tuesday ahead of their clash with Manly.

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It came on the same day Cronulla star Josh Dugan was pictured at a restaurant with friends while players were forbidden to due to the NRL’s level three protocols.

Hadley accepted Dugan made a mistake but said the Bulldogs players needed to take a long hard look at themselves.

“The club’s filthy on him and it’s evident he won’t be there next season,” Hadley told NRL360 on Fox League.

“He’ll be judged on this matter but also matters over the years. At least now he’s contrite, he was never contrite previously and there was an arrogance to him.

“He knows he’s done the wrong thing, but there’s five Canterbury players who’ve crippled that club.

Dylan Napa and other Bulldogs teammates breached Covid-19 rules. (Photo by Mark Evans/Getty Images)

“They’ve crippled them. I feel so sorry for Trent Barrett, take off your head and put it on a pumpkin boys. Fair dinkum.

“They lead Parramatta at halftime and get thumped in the second half and they decide to go to Bondi and get on the turps.

“Three of them signed in, two didn’t and they’ve been caught since. No wonder Trent Barrett wants to clean the joint out.”

The Daily Telegraph’s Paul Kent, meanwhile, said that the players were only jeopardising their own futures if they continued to defy the NRL’s directives.

“The fact two of them didn’t sign in, shows they were trying to hide what their activities were,” Kent said.

“The NRL right now is trying very hard to not breach any contracts in place that had to be renegotiated last year during Covid – broadcast, stadium, sponsorship contracts.

“The NRL is doing everything it can to keep the game played.

“There’s a very real risk that if the players are ambivalent or careless with these new Covid restrictions and continue to breach them and there’s some sort of outbreak where the competition has to be halted then the game goes back to the negation table and the players who were so upset when they had to take pay cuts, they’ll be asked to take them again.”

Originally published as ‘Take off your head‘: Bulldogs stars slammed for ‘crippling’ club