So desensitised are fans to their heroes behaving badly, they take a look at the images, sigh with disgust, and move on with their lives.

It has become the black mark against a sporting code beloved by its diehard - and patient - supporters.

The biff might have been removed from the pitch, but the off-field aggro and debauchery continues to flourish. And it’s not only the young up-and-comers getting in trouble. Mitch Pearce, the Roosters co-captain and NSW Blues star, illustrates that point.

Today’s NRL stars are bred young, lured with plush pay packets and offered counselling support to help them cope with the pressure.

But more than 20-years since Broncos star Julian O’Neill allegedly urinated under a Gold Coast casino blackjack table, the shenanigans continue.

On Thursday, the day after the Pearce scandal broke, NSW Blues captain Paul Gallen offered his opinion.

“Unfortunately, we can’t excuse Mitchell’s behaviour and what’s happened. While he hasn’t hurt anyone, he’s only hurt himself at the end of the day, unfortunately he’s going to pay for it,” Gallen said.

No clean-skin

But the 34-year-old is no clean-skin, also falling foul of the NRL’s integrity standards. In 2009, he was fined $10,000 for an alleged racial slur against Mickey Paea.

In 2014, he was slugged a $35,000 fine for using foul language attacking the NRL.

But in typical league fashion, the Sharks skipper was sent off to a leadership accountability course and all was forgiven and, seemingly, forgotten.

Counselling and courses are the methods of choice for the NRL to quietly usher stars back into the game minus a few exceptions, such as serial bad boy Todd Carney.

An NRL source told The Saturday Telegraph many at the Roosters were dismayed by the potential for players to get “stitched-up by randoms”.

“He shouldn’t have been in that situation but it’s pretty frightening to think that a person with a phone can do that. In a matter of minutes, their lives are turned upside down,” he said.

Like Premier League soccer players, and our very own Shane Warne, the potential for mobile phone messages, photos and crude footage to derail a career has become reality.

For teens and 20-somethings, the thought of selling their iPhone footage is appealing. A quick buck, cashing in on the behaviour of someone who should know better.

Whether it involves selling footage or images for profit or posting them on social media, the motivation to “stitch up” badly behaved celebrities is real.

Sydney University Media Law Expert Professor Barbara McDonald told Channel 7 everyone with a mobile phone could potentially become members “of the paparazzi”.

“It’s not just professional paparazzi that they need to be worried about,” she warned.

The NRL’s adviser on gender issues Professor Catharine Lumby said she was “extremely disappointed and very angry” about the latest scandal.

After countless high profile incidents involving women and sexualised comments, NRL stars continue to disrupt the code’s attempts to attract a stronger female audience.

Prof Lumby said if Pearce wasn’t stood down, she would consider quitting her post and said footballers didn’t deserve a career in elite sport if they thought “harassing women is acceptable”.

“If the approach of the NRL changes… and there is a slap on the wrist… I would be very disappointed,” Prof Lumby said.

One of the darkest stains against rugby league in recent years has been the harassment and violence against women.

In almost all of the cases reviewed by The Saturday Telegraph, alcohol consumption was a major factor.

If it’s not domestic violence related, recent scandals have involved sexualising women.

In a stinging rebuke of NRL clubs, Assistant Commissioner Mick Fuller recently highlighted the disparity between drugs charges and domestic violence in sport.

“Take all the names out of it and all we (hear) about is his welfare, how he’s going, what we’re doing to protect him,” Mr Fuller said.

“You can test positive for steroids and you get a two-year ban, but you can beat your partner up (and clubs do nothing).

“That captures, for me, everything that’s wrong with domestic violence in terms of the way we perceive it.”

South Sydney Rabbitohs’ premiership winning centre Kirisome Auva’a pleaded guilty to recklessly causing injury to his ex-girlfriend during a violent incident in Melbourne.

The NRL banished him for nine-months and even knocked back an appeal against the severity of his suspension. But by the back end of last year, he was back on the pitch. By November, he had signed a new three-year contract.

After being re-signed, premiership winning coach Michael Maguire lavished praise on the 23-year-old, who had undergone counselling sessions.

“Somi has grown as a player and we’re looking forward to seeing him perform week in and week out in the 2016 season and beyond,” Maguire said.

“Somi has worked very hard away from the game throughout 2015 to get himself in a position to make a contribution again on-field, and we’re all looking forward to continuing that work with him into the future.”

Running theme

It is a common theme in the NRL, where players are allowed second, third, fourth chances.

The NRL Integrity Unit has been lauded by the sport’s governing body as proof that the code is committed to cleaning up its image. The integrity unit was established to introduce consistency across the league and create a fairer playing field for all clubs.

But players and coaches have privately, and in some cases publicly, attacked its efficiency.

Canberra Raiders coach Ricky Stuart last year suggested that three of the club’s now sacked marquee players – Blake Ferguson, Todd Carney and Josh Dugan – were forced out of the franchise with no support provided to the club by the NRL.

“That’s why some clubs flat out refuse to sack players when they get in trouble, no matter what they do,” Stuart said.

“And it’s why other clubs try to cover up player behaviour. So they don’t come under pressure to have to do that. The Integrity Unit was supposed to sort that out.”

Legendary Brisbane Broncos coach Wayne Bennett also targeted the integrity unit after they performed a backflip on seizing players’ phones and computers as part of investigations.

“I have lost total confidence in them. You can’t come out one day with a statement and the same day you rescind the statement about what they are going to do with telephones and laptops and God knows what else,” Bennett said.

When it comes to scandal and media management, rugby league falls behind its rival sporting codes.

More than ever, league players are put on pedestals, propped up and idolised through social media’s 24-7 connectivity.

The filter of traditional media has been replaced with players posting images of their own personal lives, inviting fans into their once exclusive domains.

The days of managing scandals like Julian O’Neill’s “poo in a shoe” incident in a Dubbo motel room are long gone.

If you’re famous and behave badly there’s every chance there could be a snap-happy reveller nearby ready to capture it on camera.