Gasnier fined, keeps Dragons captaincy - Sports News - Fanatics - the world's biggest events

Gasnier fined, keeps Dragons captaincy

By Steve Jancetic 04/03/2008 07:31:39 PM Comments (0)

St George Illawarra skipper Mark Gasnier has been fined but the NRL has ruled out blanket curfews as a result of the late night drinking session which ended with a drive-by shooting in Sydney's Kings Cross.

NRL chief executive David Gallop described news of the incident - in which three Parramatta players were the target of a gunman in the early hours of Monday morning - as "a bloody ugly headline for the game."

The Eels will meet on Wednesday to discuss what sanctions if any they will take against the players involved - Test winger Jarryd Hayne, Weller Hauraki and Junior Paulo - while the Dragons fined their club captain for his late night out.

Having on Monday denied Gasnier was implicated in any incidents on the evening in question, the Dragons confirmed he had been involved in "a disagreement".

But the club refused to confirm allegations the incident led to the later shooting, with speculation claiming Hayne had been targeted after helping out his Test teammate.

The Dragons ruled out stripping Gasnier of the club captaincy, which he only inherited on a fulltime basis just over a month ago.

"The club and Mark are disappointed with Mark's choice as to how and where he spent his social time in this instance," Dragons chief executive Peter Doust said.

"The club expects their players to make better choices regarding their social time."

Gallop reiterated the message, claiming players were asking for trouble by putting themselves in positions where trouble can occur.

"This is about taking a responsibility about not placing yourself in high risk situations and there's no doubt that Kings Cross at four o'clock in the morning, there are landmines everywhere," Gallop said.

"I would have thought that's a reasonably obvious high-risk situation, even if you're not intoxicated yourself, the chances are there'll be intoxicated people around you and the sad reality is you may well be provoked - that's a risky situation to put yourself in and it could have led to catastrophic results on this occasion.

"The clear message out of this is that if you're consistently in the wrong place at the wrong time, then you're asking for trouble."

Gallop said the NRL had not considered banning players from heading to Kings Cross late at night, despite the area being a notorious trouble spot for footballers.

"I don't believe blanket curfews are the answer," Gallop said.

"Certainly if club's want to impose that kind of condition on their players, that's a matter for them, but I don't believe in blanket curfews imposed by the league."

The Dragons moved to adjust their accepted levels of behaviour as a result of Gasnier's late night out, but there was no indication whether they had instituted curfews on players.

Gasnier apologised for setting a poor example, but Gallop didn't look like he was ready to forgive and forget.

"Whenever there are situations where the same names come up, you get concerned," Gallop said.

"I'd expect the clubs, as the employers of those players, to treat that with the seriousness that it should be treated with where there are repeat offenders."

Gallop said he would await results of Parramatta's management meeting on Wednesday and police reports before commenting on whether any action will be taken by the NRL.

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