Bulldogs star Jayden Okunbor will reportedly be sacked for breaching the NRL’s code of conduct in an alleged schoolgirl sex scandal.
The 23-year-old and his teammate Corey Harawira-Naera, 24, were stood down last week after it emerged they took teenage schoolgirls back to the team hotel for sex while in camp in Port Macquarie, New South Wales last month.
Okunbor is expected to lose his job because he had been on an official school visit at the time he met the girl.
‘The strong mail is that Okunbor will get sacked. He’ll lose his job as an NRL player and that Harawira-Naera is looking at 8-12 weeks [suspension], saved only by the fact that he wasn’t on the school visit and met her outside of school hours,’ Nine journalist Neil Breen said on 100% Footy Monday night.
‘They’ve been given a show cause notice by the NRL which means they’ve been found guilty of bringing the game into disrepute, breaking club protocols, team protocols.
NRL star Jayden Okunbor (pictured) exchanged flirty messages with a 17-year-old girl he met at her Port Macquarie school during a Bulldogs goodwill visit before taking her back to the team hotel
The 23-year-old and his teammate Corey Harawira-Naera, 24, were stood down last week after it emerged they took teenage schoolgirls back to the team hotel for sex while in camp in Port Macquarie
‘The NRL has found that both players knew what they were doing. Both players knew that they were both schoolgirls from the school that they visited, which is why they threw the book at them in a 36-hour investigation.’
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs Rugby League Club for comment.
Okunbor and Harawira-Naera could be waiting until next week to learn their fate should they respond to NRL breach notices by 5.30pm on Tuesday.
They are expecting heavy penalties, including deregistration, and have not been training with the team as they await their fate.
Their actions are not subject to a criminal investigation.
It comes as senior Bulldogs players Josh Jackson and Aiden Tolman voice their concerns for the duo facing further suspension or deregistration.
A photo the teenage girl who went to Okunbor’s room took with Bulldogs players during their promotional visit to her school
Okunbor and Harawira-Naera were stood down by the NRL for taking teenage schoolgirls back to the team hotel for sex while in camp in Port Macquarie last month, breaking the game’s code of conduct.
The duo are expecting heavy penalties, including deregistration, and have not been training with the team as they await their fate.
Their actions are not subject to a criminal investigation.
While he doesn’t condone their behaviour, Bulldogs captain Jackson said he is concerned for the wellbeing of Okunbor and Harawira-Naera no matter what the punishment is.
‘I will say those two guys, (what they did) doesn’t reflect us as a club, it doesn’t reflect our values and it doesn’t reflect those guys’ character as well,’ he said.
‘We’ve got to make sure that we’re careful here because they’re young guys who’ve made a really bad decision, doesn’t mean they’re bad people, and we’ve got to make sure their welfare and their mental state is really looked after as well.
Pictured: A Snapchat image Okunbor allegedly sent to the girl he met while on a promotional team visit to her school in Port Macquarie. Okunbur wants to one day be a school teacher
‘We’ve got to be supportive of that.’
The scandal has cost the club a major sponsorship deal with Rashays, believed to be worth $2million.
The Bulldogs are now without a front of jersey sponsor heading into round two.
Although disappointed, Tolman echoed Jackson’s concern and said while he has an opinion on the punishment the pair should face, he won’t voice it publicly.
‘It’s a very difficult situation, they’ve obviously done the wrong thing and let down the team and the club and everyone else involved in it, the fans, the members, but in saying that too, they’re really good people,’ he said.
‘For me, this is well out of character for what they both bring to this club.
‘What’s more important for me is making sure their welfare is all right.
‘There’s going to be some harsh calls come down and they need to know what they did was wrong, and not right, but in saying that too they’re still people, we still need to make sure we’re there to support them during this time.’
‘It’s frustrating for this to happen right on the NRL season, but it has.
‘I’ve got my opinion, I don’t want to say it, I don’t want to get drawn into that comment at the moment.’