Latrell Mitchell, Josh Addo-Carr, Nathan Cleary fined heavily for isolation breaches

NRL stars Latrell Mitchell and Josh Addo-Carr face firearms charges while the pair and Nathan Cleary have been penalised for isolation breaches.

Latrell Mitchell, Nathan Cleary and Josh Addo-Carr will be allowed to play when the NRL resumes on May 28..

The NRL has hit back at claims they went soft on Latrell Mitchell, Josh Addo-Carr and Nathan Cleary, describing the sanctions handed down to three of the game’s biggest names for breaching self-isolation rules as a good behaviour bond that has put the entire playing group on notice.

Mitchell, Addo-Carr and Cleary were slapped with more than $100,000 in fines for breaching government mandates, 60 per cent of which suspended. In Cleary’s case, the final figure counted to $4000, less than one per cent of his million-dollar salary.

None of the trio will miss a game, each receiving suspended one-match bans. Newcastle player Tyronne Roberts-Davis was also fined and handed a one-game suspended ban at the end of another turbulent day for the code when Mitchell and Addo-Carr were charged by police over firearm offences and Cleary — one of the game’s rising stars — found himself being investigated by police after pictures emerged of him on social media surrounded by a coterie of women. Cleary explained while what he did was wrong, a visit from the group of girls was unplanned and he was unaware a photo was taken.

“My sister’s friends and girls that I have grown up with were drinking down the road on the street and they came by and popped in and said they were just waiting for an Uber before they went to someone else’s house,” he said, estimating the group was in his house for no longer than 10 minutes.

“Obviously in the time that they were here there was a photo taken, I had no idea about it until this morning.”

Josh Addo-Carr, centre, and Latrell Mitchell, left, flouting social distancing rules during a trip to Taree.

The NRL wasted no time dropping the hammer on Cleary, the Panthers playmaker having apologised to his teammates and explained to his father and coach Ivan what was going through his mind.

Mitchell and Addo-Carr may face more recriminations yet after they were charged by NSW Police on Tuesday afternoon in relation to the firearms act. Mitchell attended Taree Police Station on Tuesday morning where he handed over his firearms licence and a number of guns, and was charged with giving a firearm to a person not authorised by licence or permit.

Addo-Carr was charged with unauthorised use of a firearm. Against that backdrop, there had been calls for the players to be suspended for what is left of the season, most notably by premiership-winning coach turned commentator Phil Gould.

Social media was littered with fans questioning whether the NRL had gone soft on the players.

“I disagree,” ARL Commission chair Peter V’landys said.

“I will tell you why it is not light — it is a good behaviour bond. This is the first time we have been in a crisis like this.

“Out of every negative there is a positive — the positive here is that everyone is on notice that we are fair dinkum about this.

“If they breach again, not only are they going to be suspended and lose another $30,000, but they will cop another fine on top of that.

“So we just didn’t believe it was fair to penalise the club because the club wasn’t in control of those players at that point in time.

“If it was next Wednesday or Thursday it would have been a different matter. If they don’t learn from it and do something stupid again, they will be double whacked.”

The players were saved heftier sanctions because they were effectively on their own time — they are not due to return to training until May 4.

Acting chief executive Andrew Abdo’s first job as NRL chief executive was to make sense of it all. To explain to an outraged fanbase why the players would be there in round one.

He did a solid job. With construction work being carried out on the Sydney Football Stadium as his backdrop, Abdo was also forced to defend the game against allegations that race had played a part in the disparity between the sanctions.

Mitchell and Addo-Carr were fined $50,000 each, Cleary was fined $10,000 — all three had 60 per cent of the fines suspended.

“What’s happened with Latrell and Josh, is that they’ve gone on a planned holiday which included camping with a wide number of people,” Abdo said.

“You’ve all seen on social media what they got up to. That’s very different to someone being at home and while it’s still against the public health order, it’s a very different context to someone attending your home in a very short, unplanned period of time.

“It’s actually very different circumstances. I’m not going to make a comment on everyone’s perception around what is appropriate from a cultural perspective but I will say this — the matters have been treated on the actions of the individual.

“This has nothing to do with culture or race. This has to do with what is expected of all our players and the standards they need to adhere to for our fans and for the community.”