Test stars Hudson Young and Morgan Smithies are facing disciplinary action from the Raiders after they were involved in a late-night altercation in Las Vegas.
Young, who made his debut for the Kangaroos late last year, and Smithies, who has represented England at international level, were involved in an incident at the team hotel in Las Vegas.
Raiders coach Ricky Stuart confirmed to The Sydney Morning Herald that the pair had been hauled over the coals over their involvement in the disturbance
There were technical issues at the hotel which had left hundreds of guests waiting hours to check in and one Raiders player was left without a room.
Young and Smithies were involved in a scuffle in an elevator and hotel security evicted them from the premises.
They were concerned after being told that one of the players was in possession of a weapon but it turned out to be an inflatable baseball bat.
One of the players wanted to sleep in a teammate’s bed but was “met with resistance”.
“I’m aware of this,” Stuart told the SMH. “It happened three days ago. I’ve dealt with this strongly. It was irresponsible behaviour, I’ve dealt with this and want to now go about preparing the team for Saturday.”
Canberra will not send the players home and both are expected to feature in the pack when the Raiders tackle the Warriors in the opening NRL match of the double-header at Allegiant Stadium on Sunday (AEDT).
The Raiders have since ordered the duo to front the media on Monday morning (Tuesday AEDT), where they will be quizzed about the incident.
Smithies played all 24 matches for Canberra last year in an impressive first season in the NRL after starting out at Wigan.
Young is one of the Raiders’ highest-paid players with 119 NRL games under his belt since his debut in 2019. He’s represented NSW in three State of Origin matches and played his first three Tests for Australia in the Pacific Championships last October.
Hudson Young Raiders (Photo by Mark Nolan/Getty Images)
The clash is the first off-field behavioural problem to beset the NRL in Las Vegas, after a largely incident free first visit to the city last year.
On that trip, the main issue was a verbal altercation between the Sydney Roosters’ Spencer Leniu and Brisbane players in a hotel corridor, following Leniu’s racial slur against Bronco Ezra Mam.
That incident did not become physical, and hotel security were not called.
Clubs have largely given players free rein to enjoy Sin City, trusting them to behave and believing locking them in hotels is not the best preparation for games.
with AAP
