The NRL has been dealt its first off-field behavioural issue in Las Vegas, with Canberra forwards Morgan Smithies and Hudson Young forced into explaining their actions after clashing on the opening night of the Raiders’ camp.
The two players fronted the media on Monday (Tuesday AEDT) to apologise after becoming involved in an altercation with each other after a night out, when a hotel mix up left one of them without a room.
“We came back after a night out on Thursday and there was an issue with the room,” Young said. “We’re not going to go into details of that. There was a scuffle in the elevator, nothing in the hallways.
“We came back as a team and one of the boys had got a toy baseball bat somewhere. That was mistaken as a weapon in the elevator but it played no role.”
Police were not called and Young said security were not involved in the incident, which he admitted “got out of hand”.
“Security didn’t break anything up,” Young said. “We went downstairs to sort our room out and that’s when they’ve reviewed the footage and asked us to leave. The club sorted it out and we’re very thankful to be staying here at Resorts World.”
Neither of the duo are expected to be sent home, and both are available to be named to face the Warriors in the NRL season opener at Allegiant Stadium this weekend.
“I want to apologise for the actions on Thursday night. It wasn’t good enough,” Young said.
“Things got a bit out of hand on Thursday night. I’m happy to move on. I’m embarrassed for myself, our teammates and the NRL. We’ve dealt with it internally as a club. Sticky’s [coach Ricky Stuart] been on the front foot. Everything has been dealt with.”
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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, after 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 this year, trusting them to behave and believing locking them in hotels is not the best preparation for games.
