St George Illawarra’s Mikaela Ravalawa and Zane Musgrove will be issued breach notices and fined for the 6am alcohol-fuelled argument that has prompted further questions over the team’s culture, but will not miss any NRL game time as punishment for the incident.
Following the Herald’s revelation that the pair were reprimanded by Dragons officials for a heated “verbal argument” outside the team’s Mudgee hotel in the early hours of Sunday morning, the club meted out internal sanctions on Tuesday.
The decision came after a scheduled Dragons board meeting, at which football manager Ben Haran fronted board members.
Coach Anthony Griffin also delivered a team address at Tuesday’s training about player behaviour, though the incident involving Ravalawa and Musgrove was not deemed serious enough to warrant a club suspension.
Sources with knowledge of the situation, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told the Herald that Ravalawa and Musgrove had been out drinking with teammates in Mudgee until around 2am after Saturday’s heavy loss to South Sydney in the Charity Shield.
The pair were the only two players to continue drinking after returning to the Dragons hotel. At around 6am they began arguing, with teammates intervening to split up what was described as a minor scuffle that spilled into the carpark at the Winning Post Motor Inn Hotel.
Sources said neither Ravalawa nor Musgrave were able to remember what sparked the incident. Club officials insist no punches were thrown. Veteran prop Aaron Woods said the same when he spoke about the matter on Triple M on Tuesday.
Players had been given permission by the club to go out after Saturday’s game given their long turnaround between games. The Dragons have the bye in round one.
“We were allowed to have a couple of beers because we don’t play for three weeks, our first game is the Sunday of round two,” Woods said.
“We had a couple of beers out and ended up coming home and a couple of the boys got a little bit rowdy in their hotel room.
Zane Musgrove and Mikaele Ravalawa were involved in an argument in Mudgee over the weekend.Credit:Getty and Dragons
“It was … just a little bit of an argument between men, a little bit of wrestling … and then afterwards we were all best mates again.”
St George Illawarra officials had expressed disappointment at the incident which, in their eyes, failed to meet club standards.
While not at the high end of the scale, the incident was poorly timed given the Dragons’ underwhelming trial form and the pressure on Griffin to start the season well.
Griffin is off-contract this year and has already weathered several incidents involving poor player behaviour, including five-eighth Talatau Amone being stood down as he faces serious assault charges and the infamous BBQ-gate matter that derailed St George Illawarra’s 2021 campaign.
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