Peter Gleeson: Bench Josh Addo-Carr, Latrell Mitchell for season

The NRL players accused of breaching COVID-19 restrictions during a weekend camping trip should be benched for the season and stripped of a year’s pay. That’s the only way the message will get through, writes Peter Gleeson.

JOSH Addo-Carr, Latrell Mitchell and Tyronne Roberts-Davis should not play footy again in 2020 and their fines for breaching Covid 19 restrictions should be their annual salaries.

At a time when the National Rugby League is relying upon senior health officials to give the green light for a May 28 resumption, NRL boss Peter V’landys has no choice but to throw them out of the game for 2020.

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Josh Addo-Carr was warned twice before controversial camping trip

By allowing them to continue, V’Landys sends a message to health bosses that he’s not fair dinkum about adhering to the strict social distancing protocols required for footy to resume.

By fining them their entire annual salary, he sends a message to other players that the NRL is taking a zero tolerance approach to the Covid 19 crisis.

The fact that Addo-Carr was warned twice in 11 days by police for violating Covid 19 restrictions – before the ill fated Taree trip – shows we are dealing with individuals who don’t have the intellectual capacity to understand the gravity of their actions.

In previous years, society has frowned upon off-field indiscretions of footballers, accepting that they live in a bubble and as role models, their every move is scrutinised, often amplified.

But this indiscretion goes well beyond a Bali brawl or a drug-fuelled end of season trip. This is life and death stuff.

Josh Addo-Carr and Latrell Mitchell share a laugh during Blues training. File picture: Brett Costello

As the majority of Australians have done the right thing and isolated at home, flattening the curve so that we can get out of this thing earlier than anticipated, a couple of footballers have thumbed their noses at the rules.

The fact that they posted their idiocy online demonstrates their brazen arrogance. To suggest it was a “cultural’’ thing is beyond belief.

Addo-Carr and Mitchell led the charge by not acknowledging Australia’s national anthem at last year’s State of Origin, saying Advance Australia Fair did not reflect their values.

That was their right. But they have no right to endanger the lives of other Australians by flagrantly breaking social distancing laws during the most lethal pandemic of our lifetime.

They must sit out 2020 and cop it in the wallet. Maybe then they will understand how foolish they have been.