SYDNEY - The Newcastle Knights NRL club has sacked one player and issued fines totalling A$50,000 ($55,114) following a drunken rampage at a university in the NSW town of Bathurst at the weekend.
After two days of investigations and a marathon board meeting that stretched into last night, the Knights
terminated 20-year-old Dane Tilse's contract for conduct "contrary and prejudicial to the club and the NRL".
Neither the National Rugby League nor the Newcacastle Knights club would reveal the player's name but it was published today by the Daily Telegraph and the Sydney Morning Herald website.
"The club realises the significance of its actions insofar as the player is concerned, but had to take into account the interests of the entire club, including its supporters, members and sponsors as well as the broader community," chairman Michael Hill said in a statement issued last night.
The Newcastle club was also hit with a A$100,000 fine by the NRL over the players' misconduct in Bathurst and received a further A$100,000 penalty, suspended on the proviso the club incurred no similar misconduct breaches over the next two seasons.
The NRL also announced it would de-register the sacked player, effectively ending Tilse's career in Australia for at least the next 12 months.
"Given the information we have been presented with, it would be our intention to refuse to register a contract with that player once we receive formal notification from the Knights," NRL chief executive David Gallop said in a statement last night.
"Such a decision would prevent him playing for any NRL team.
"Certainly we would not re-register the player without a compelling reason and it is unlikely we could foresee that occurring within the next 12 months."
Tilse, a front-rower from Scone in the NSW Hunter Valley, has made three first-grade appearances for the Knights.
He represented NSW in the under 19s and played with the Junior Kangaroos last season.
Newcastle officials also announced 12 players had received the largest fines in the club's history following the breach of a 3am curfew in which club members allegedly rampaged through a dormitory at Charles Sturt University in Bathurst after a trial game on Saturday night.
One un-named student described on radio how a player allegedly assaulted a student as she slept.
"He then went back towards the door, saw her on her bed face down, climbed on top of her, straddled her and began to touch her inappropriately," she said.
Police were yet to receive an official complaint and said they had no evidence to support claims of an indecent assault.
During the disturbance, a fire extinguisher was let off and a bicycle was damaged.
The players fined were named by the club in alphabetical order: Dustin Cooper, Kurt Gidley, Mark Hughes, Matt Kennedy, Todd Lowrie, Blake Mueller, Luke Quigley, Kirk Reynoldson, Reegan Tanner, Dane Tilse, Daniel Tolar and Adam Woolnough.
It is the second time in two years the NRL has slugged one of its clubs over a pre-season incident.
Last year the Bulldogs were hit with a A$500,000 fine -- A$350,000 was suspended - over allegations of sexual misconduct in Coffs Harbour.
- AAP
SYDNEY - The Newcastle Knights NRL club has sacked one player and issued fines totalling A$50,000 ($55,114) following a drunken rampage at a university in the NSW town of Bathurst at the weekend.
After two days of investigations and a marathon board meeting that stretched into last night, the Knights
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