NRL player Paul Vaughan has been sacked by Dragons after throwing a party during the Covid lockdown | NRL

NRL player Paul Vaughan was hired by his club St.

Vaughan had already been suspended for eight games – at the end of his regular season – to pay a $ 50,000 fine from the league, but after a board meeting on Tuesday, the Dragons decided to quit his appointment with immediate effect.

Vaughan, who has 15 months remaining on his $ 750,000-a-year contract, was one of 13 players to face NRL sanctions on Monday, resulting in a total of 20 weeks’ bans and $ 305,000 fines.

Vaughan was joined by Daniel Alvaro, Gerard Beale, Jack Bird, Jack de Belin, Matt Dufty, Kaide Ellis, Tyrell Fuimaono, Josh Kerr, Blake Lawrie, Zac Lomax, Josh McGuire and Corey Norman at the party.

The Dragons announced Tuesday afternoon that the remaining 12 players will receive individual violations that will include a confidential fine that will be passed on to select local charities, as well as mandatory after-school club services.

All 13 players as well as Vaughan’s partners were fined $ 1,000 by NSW Police, and since then it has been found that de Belin and a handful of other authorities have misled the NRL’s club and integrity unit for to cover up his presence.

De Belin told the club he was walking his dog in the general area of ​​the party and was just dropping something off at the house, but it was later claimed he was hiding under a bed from the police.

Add to the club’s frustration that Saturday’s party marked Vaughan’s second breach of NRL biosafety rules after visiting a coffee shop in the NRL bubble last season.

Dragons boss Ryan Webb announced further club sanctions for the players on Tuesday.

“It’s a pretty massive thing for the club, it’s not something we can solve with a few light efforts,” he told SEN Radio. “This will have serious implications.

“We have to make sure that the board of directors is aware of all the intricacies of the game and how each player reacts to everything. Then we will make some decisions about what we want to do as a club. There are currently a lot of people who have lost a lot of trust in our club and we have to try to regain that. “

NRL CEO Andrew Abdo also criticized the players for jeopardizing competition with a premeditated party while the state grapples with an unsafe Covid-19 situation.

“When I think of all that is at stake and how many people work incredibly hard to keep our competition going and to protect the community, yes, I was gutted,” Abdo told Channel Nine .

“But we worked incredibly hard in two days to get to the bottom of what happened. Our integrity team did an excellent job.

“We have dealt with it now. The players understand the consequences and I think it also sends a message to all other players that we will not tolerate any violations of these protocols. They are essential to keep the season going. “

– with Australian Associated Press