Huge brawl in NRL NT women’s grand final between Darwin Brothers and Palmerston Raiders
The NRL NT has put several players on multiple match bans for their involvement in a shocking on-field brawl in the women’s rugby league grand final. See the outcomes.
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Latest, September 13: Players have been banned for up to 12 weeks following a chaotic brawl that broke out in the NRL NT women’s grand final between Darwin Brothers and Palmerston Raiders.
A second half melee that lasted for more than a minute, with several more minutes of deliberation after, brought the grand final to a standstill.
The match finished 40-4 in the Brothers’ favour, though plenty of players went on the charge sheet for their part in the brawl, which involved plenty of punches and hair pulling.
Palmerston captain and Gaynor Maggs best and fairest winner Lucy Aigea received a 12 match ban for her part in the lengthy incident.
The ban was a combination of nine matches of bans for two separate striking charges, two matches for detrimental conduct and a further match for contrary conduct.
Teammate Ruti Vaitusi Faatoafe received a total of six matches for striking and contrary conduct, though had it reduced to four matches with an early guilty plea.
Fellow Palmerston player Soonalote Mate received a total ban of four weeks for the same charges, but had her charges reduced to two matches after an early guilty plea.
Raiders’ Cassandra Sing reduced her ban of four matches for contrary conduct down to three.
Joanne Faatoafe was found guilty of contrary conduct totaling three matches on the sidelines, and pleaded guilty to striking (ball throw) for a further match ban.
Darwin Brothers’ Kiera Kurnoth has been banned for six matches for striking and contrary conduct, though was found not guilty for another charge of striking.
Her teammate Talia Corrie, who made the tackle immediately before the melee, received a seven match ban for two counts of striking.
Bianca Stokes will be out for six matches with two charges of striking and another for detrimental conduct.
Meanwhile, Brothers’ captain Bianca Scrymgour was found not guilty of her charge of striking, while a charge was dismissed against their LeagueSafe runner Janna Ransome.
NRL NT general manager Tony Crowe said the bans were there to deter future incidents of the kind after what he called a disappointing couple of minutes on a day that should have been a celebration.
He also suggested further sanctions weren’t yet off the table.
“If we don’t take these steps and make a stand how can we as the NRL NT expect players to come back to the game?” he said.
Named: Every player charged after ‘disgraceful’ grand final punch-on
September 10: Multiple players from both the Palmerston Raiders and Darwin Brothers have been handed lengthy bans after a huge brawl broke out in their NRL NT women’s grand final.
Both captains as well as several other prominent players have appeared on the NRL NT judiciary charge sheet after the on field melee.
The fight initiated in a heavy tackle that quickly spiralled out of control when hair was pulled and punches were thrown.
Six players were sent off at the time, however further players have been handed charges for their part in the fighting.
Palmerston captain and Gaynor Maggs best and fairest medallist Lucy Aigea was referred directly to the tribunal on Wednesday with multiple charges against her name.
She is facing two striking charges and will also have to answer for detrimental conduct and contrary conduct.
Fellow Raiders player Ruti Vaitusi Faaotoafe is facing up to six matches on the sideline with charges of striking and contrary conduct.
The ban can be reduced to four weeks total if she makes an early guilty plea.
Palmerston’s Soonalote Mate is also facing the charges of contrary conduct and striking with bans of up to four matches, reduced to two with an early guilty plea.
Cassandra Sing has been charged for contrary conduct could face up to four weeks out of action, or three with a plea.
Raiders’ Joanne Faatoafe has up to five matches out of action for contrary conduct and striking, for throwing the ball at an opponent.
Darwin Brothers’ players were handed their share of the bans as well, particularly Kiera Kurnoth who has been referred directly to the judiciary for two charges of striking and one contrary conduct.
Talia Corrie, who made the tackle that led to the minute long fray, has been charged with striking too and also directed straight to the tribunal.
As was Bianca Stokes who will face the judiciary with charges of striking and detrimental conduct.
Brothers captain Bianca Scrymgour could face up to two matches out of action after being charged with striking for her part in the fray.
And finally Darwin Brothers’ LeagueSafe runner Janna Ransome was handed a six week ban as a tough love in league charge, for running into the incident as someone who is not a player.
All charges laid are disciplinary in nature, not criminal.
Darwin Brothers president John Adams said it was extremely disappointing to see players from his club engage in the brawl.
“We don’t want to see any of those sort of incidents in any games, it’s disappointing from both sides and we’re dealing with our players internally now,” he said.
“It’s disappointing it’s happened in a grand final with so many spectators and young kids there and we don’t condone it at all.
“You’re going to have young kids watching the game and that was unnecessary, players will be punished and hopefully that doesn’t happen again.”
Adams and the Brothers staff kept their players in the changing room until half time of the following men’s grand final to let matters settle.
“We didn’t want anything to inflame from there, it was in the best interest of our players and the league to keep them there,” he said.
“They were able to celebrate their win in the dressing shed for the first half and then when thing calmed down came out to watch the A-Grade win.”
He said the club would take any penalties that came its way “on the chin” after the actions ruined what should have been a day of celebration.
“I’m very disappointed in what happened, we don’t want this in our game, we’re trying to promote our club values as history, family, respect and this isn’t what we condone,” Adams said.
“We promote our juniors and had seven out of our 10 sides in grand finals, which is outstanding from everyone, but people see those actions and their perspective changes on the club.
“It’s disappointing it eventuated like that, it was a great day for the club, but this has put a dampener on it and I’m quite sad about that to be honest.”
Pepper spray and punch-ons: Women’s league final descends into ‘disgraceful’ chaos
Six players received send offs, and multiple others could face bans, after a huge brawl broke out in the NRL NT’s women’s grand final between Palmerston Raiders and Darwin Brothers.
Meanwhile, police had to use pepper spray in a separate incident after another incident flared up between spectators post-match, leading to an arrest.
Eventual premiers Brothers were leading 26-0 heading into the 42nd minute of play, when a tackled Palmerston player pulled the hair of her opponent.
Punches were thrown in retaliation and as a result players from both sides ran in, causing the initial incident to grow into an all-out brawl lasting more than a minute.
Commentators on a livestream of the clash, which has since been pulled from the NRL Pathways YouTube channel, called the melee “disgraceful” and “shocking”.
“This has certainly blown out of control,” one said.
“Ah goodness, this is not something you want to be seeing on grand final day or in any circumstance.”
His commentary partner remarked “we won’t be playing 13 on 13 from this point onward” as it became clear there would be send offs.
“We expect to see a number of players sent from the field.”
Three players from both sides received their marching orders following the brawl, including Palmerston captain and Gaynor Maggs best and fairest medal winner Lucy Aigea.
Players appeared to continue to provoke the opposition as they walked off, showboating to draw cheers and jeers from the crowd.
Both sides continued the game with just 10 players each.
A Palmerston player further provoked the Brothers crowd in a post-game presentation speech saying “I just want to thank the sore losers up there” before blowing kissses and fist-pumping to the cheering and jeering crowd.
An NRL NT official was heard yelling for the microphone to be taken off the player.
The feuding continued into the spectator zone when an argument broke out between a woman and fans from the opposing club near the TRL Stadium entrance gate.
The argument turned into a large-scale disturbance between opposing fans not involving the players, which police attempted to de-escalate.
Their attempts were unsuccessful resulting in the use of OC Spray to disperse the crowd and prevent further unrest.
The off field incident that led to the OC Spray being used involved spectators, not players.
After the pepper spray incident, spectators were seen rubbing and pouring water in their eyes as others helped those who had been caught up in the drama.
Police arrested a female spectator who allegedly sparked the off-field unrest, charging her with disorderly behaviour in a public place and taking her to the Palmerston Watch House.
She was seen being led from the stadium in handcuffs.
NRL NT general manager Tony Crowe said the mid-game fight was disgraceful and went against the message the sporting body was trying to send.
“It goes completely against what we’re trying to do here and our house rules,” Crowe said.
“What sort of message do actions like that send to the little girls watching from up in the grand stand?
“They’re representing our game, we’re looking at everything to make sure the game is protected and people are held accountable.”
Spectators who witnessed the chaos told this masthead they were left ‘disgusted’ by both the onfield and off-field drama.
The NRL NT match review team is expected to hand down charges to clubs, players and club officials on Monday, ahead of a tribunal hearing on Wednesday.
Palmerston Raiders said they would not make a comment at this time as there were charges and a police investigation that needed to be dealt with, while Darwin Brothers did not respond by time of publication.
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