NRL 2022: How the Dragons BBQ Covid-breach ruined careers, helped shape club culture

It was rugby league’s most infamous barbecue. And there’s only a handful of Dragons who have survived its wrath. So just how much damage did some snags and a beer cause?

Paul Vaughan’s infamous barbecue last year not only ended the Dragons season, but it has also become a career killer and helped reshape St George Illawarra’s culture.

Many of the 13 players – the “barbecue 13” – who breached Covid-19 rules and derailed the Dragons year, face becoming, or have already become, NRL outcasts.

Vaughan paid the highest price for hosting the gathering, with the event costing him about $1 million.

He was thrown a lifeline by the Bulldogs this year alongside fellow ex-Dragon and barbecue attendee Matt Dufty, with the pair coming face-to-face with their former club for the first time today

The gathering split the playing group amid suggestions of players hiding under beds, running home, and lying to the club about attending. They failed to win another game and fell out of finals contention with an eight-match losing streak. It also fast-tracked the clean-out many in the club felt needed to happen.

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St George Illawarra boss Ryan Webb described the group as showing “a lot of naivety, simplicity and stupidity in that action”.

“It wasn‘t a conscious thing to say we need to rebuild,” Webb said. “We were already working that way. Since Anthony (Griffin) had come in, we were already talking about what we needed to do and the environment we needed to create, not just for the playing group but it needed to wash across the business. It needed to be club-first.

“We just wanted an environment where no-one was bigger than the club. We are all lucky to be here and we wanted to build a club around that, particularly one that understood if these kids are going to be our future, you needed an environment that allowed them to grow and encouraged them to make the right decisions. It allowed us to show to a lot of people that we were serious about it.

“It allowed us to put actions into place when often you just use words about changing culture and making a stand. It allowed us to show with our actions that we meant it. That was really visible for everyone outside and inside the club.”

Matt Dufty and Paul Vaughan will come up against their old club in Round 12. Picture: NRL Photos

Players were fined a total of $305,000 and suspended for a combined 20 matches.

Already Corey Norman, Kaide Ellis and Daniel Alvaro have been forced to the Super League, while Gerard Beale retired.

Vaughan and Dufty will be limited to a 12-month stint at the Bulldogs, with both facing NRL exile. Dufty will join Warrington at the end of the season, while Vaughan has little interest in his services from anyone in the NRL.

Josh McGuire is off-contract at season’s end, and the Dragons are still deliberating if they will hand him a new deal amid interest from the Super League.

Forward Josh Kerr is the latest barbecue attendee who could be moved on despite having 12 months left on his deal. Kerr has been overlooked for selection over the past month and is understood to be keen on exploring options elsewhere.

That means less than half of the attendees – Jack de Belin, Jack Bird, Zac Lomax, Tyrell Fuimaono, Blake Lawrie – are set to remain at the club next season.

“Sneaking into the finals last year might have caused us more harm than good,” Webb said.

“Everyone had unique circumstances around where their contracts stood, where they were going in terms of culture.

"There wasn‘t a conscious decision to say these guys were at the barbecue, we need to change that. They all responded differently and all that was taken into account when you make decisions later on.

“When we looked at sanctions – that was done as a group.”

Dufty and Lomax will also have a chance to square off for the first time since falling out after the Canterbury fullback took exception to Lomax’s comments on a skit on Fox League.

Originally published as NRL 2022: How the Dragons BBQ Covid-breach ruined careers, helped shape club culture