Broncos quartet facing axe
16.09.2008
By: Dan Koch
Rugby League
THE Broncos' charge towards an unlikely premiership was thrown into turmoil yesterday, with four senior players facing the axe as the club opened an internal investigation into their conduct after a booze-fuelled night of controversy at the weekend.
Saturday evening's Broncos-Storm finals blockbuster, which will double as Wayne Bennett's Brisbane farewell, has been overshadowed by revelations three Broncos players were being investigated by Queensland Police over the alleged sexual assault of a young woman in the toilet of a Brisbane nightclub on Saturday.
While police and the Broncos have refused to confirm the identities of the players involved, star fullback Karmichael Hunt told reporters at training early yesterday that he had been out drinking on Saturday night.
It can be revealed that Bennett addressed the entire Broncos squad before yesterday's training session, ordering the players to close ranks and declaring the subject off-limits at the club's training headquarters at Red Hill.
However, it seems unlikely the drama will fade away after police interviewed the players yesterday afternoon, shortly before the club announced the start of its own investigation into the evening.
``As soon as the Broncos were made aware of the allegations, an internal investigation team was formed,'' Broncos chief executive Bruno Cullen said.
``The main focus of the internal investigation team is to co-operate fully with the Queensland Police and collectively ensure all the relevant facts are recorded.''
Cullen said the players also were co-operating with the police investigation, which is still several days away from a conclusion.
On past experience, however, the club's independent investigation is unlikely to drag on. The club acted quickly and decisively on the findings of its investigation team's look into repeated breaches of the players' code by Brett Seymour and Neville Costigan in 2006.
The pair had their contracts terminated immediately, as did Ian Lacey and John Te Reo at the end of the 2007 season for their involvement in a brutal assault on a Brisbane street.
Fears the club could again wield the axe for Saturday night threw betting agencies into turmoil, with bookmakers across the country suspending grand final betting and all wagers involving the Broncos.
Lasseters betting manager Gerard Daffy said with all the rumours floating around, premiership betting would be suspended until investigations were completed.
``If the Broncos were to lose any players at all, particularly key players, their hopes go out the gate,'' Daffy said. ``If that happened, Melbourne Storm would become flavour of the month.''
The club will no doubt take a dim view of players drinking for up to 10 hours just six days out from a semi-final match.
Prop Ben Hannant, a devout Mormon and teetotaller, denied there was an alcohol problem at the club and defended the performance of the leadership group.
``We don't have a policy (regarding alcohol), it is up to the senior playing group to decide what we do or don't do,'' Hannant said.
``As a team, that is the way we have gone about things this year.''
The build-up to Saturday's semi-final has now been sullied.
Bennett's head-to-head battle with former protege Craig Bellamy headlined a plethora of spectacular individual battles in an old-fashioned grudge match between the two sides.
The Broncos' upset victory in the 2006 grand final still grates at the Melbourne club, which exacted some revenge in the first week of the 2007 finals courtesy of a 40-0 flogging which ended Brisbane's year.
The allegations and insults on and off the field and the ever-present grapple tackle controversy only added to the ill-feeling.
Hannant said the impending departure of so many of the Broncos squad, as well as Bennett, who will coach the Dragons in 2009, was serving as added motivation for the clash against the reigning premier.
``We're starting to build towards something, I think that's four in a row and hopefully the momentum keeps going and we keep improving.
``We're going to play together as a team because this team is not going to be together much longer. We want to ride it for as long as we can and play for each other,'' Hannant said.
Perils of leadership vacuum
