Inside story: How Canberra Raiders’ Hudson Young-Morgan Smithies’ elevator fight was exposed

There are 5000 cameras in Resorts World in Las Vegas and just one where two Raiders players brawled. So what alerted security to the fight behind closed elevator doors? This is how the Las Vegas saga unfolded.

Canberra Raiders duo Hudson Young and Morgan Smithies returned to their Las Vegas hotel after a night out in Sin City and did what many footy players in their mid-20s would to settle an argument – wrestle.

The prize for the winner was the one bed on offer after Smithies was left room-less following a check-in bungle that has plagued the NRL’s official Vegas accommodation partner, Resorts World.

What they didn’t envisage in their intoxicated state on their first night in the US was that wrestle spilling into an elevator at the Hilton and evolving into a fist fight.

As punches flew between the self-proclaimed “best mates”, one of them bumped the emergency call button in the lift, prompting the surveillance team at Resorts World to zero in on one of 5000 CCTV cameras in the monstrous facility.

By the time Young and Smithies reached hotel reception at about 2am Friday (local time), hoping to secure an extra room, alarm bells were ringing.

Raiders players Morgan Smithies (left) and Hudson Young arriving at their training session at Kellogg Zaher Field in Las Vegas. Picture: Jonathan Ng

Instead of being given a room key, an inflatable baseball bat seen on the security vision triggered hotel staff to briefly evict the strapping forwards from the venue as they searched for answers.

Given the hotel bookings were made by the NRL, a staffer from league headquarters was contacted about the Raiders players.

Raiders staff and coach Ricky Stuart were then called and the hotel allowed the players back in, mistakenly directing one to a room which was already occupied by a Penrith player.

Raiders CEO Don Furner was in Los Angeles when he got the news and called NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo to speak to him about the incident.

Furner was clearly disappointed with what had taken place but there was no consideration given to sending the players home or standing them down.

“It’s very disappointing,” Furner said.

“I just said to Rick that the players should front the media. That’s why we did it. Make them own their mistake rather than leave it to the club to face the music.”

It took nearly three days before whispers of a drama in the Canberra camp started to filter through to the heavy Australian media contingent on deck in Vegas.

Once the story was out on Sunday night (local time), Stuart and Furner decided the best course of action was for Young and Smithies to front up immediately.

The lifts at the Hilton Resorts World where Young and Smithies came to blows.

The red emergency call button that the Raiders pair accidentally pushed.

It was the club’s only hope of getting their Vegas expedition back on track ahead of Sunday’s NRL season opener against the Warriors at Allegiant Stadium.

Furner and Stuart decided the incident wasn’t worth putting the two Test forwards on the first plane back to Australia, but that won’t be the end of the matter.

The NRL is expected to request and review the CCTV footage before deciding if breach notices need to be issued.

League bosses Abdo and Peter V’landys boarded a charter flight in Sydney on Tuesday morning bound for Vegas.

Young and Smithies front the media on Tuesday morning. Picture: Jonathan Ng

The first questions they will be asked upon touching down in the US for the NRL’s second Vegas venture will undoubtedly be about the hotel lift fracas.

By then, some of the sting will have been taken out of the scandal given Canberra’s snap decision to make the players face the music.

But what happens in Vegas doesn’t always stay in Vegas.

Originally published as Inside story: How Canberra Raiders’ Hudson Young-Morgan Smithies’ elevator fight was exposed