Raiders star Junior Paulo has been suspended from Round 1 after being convicted of common assault and reckless driving for an incident last year.
“The Canberra Raiders and NRL integrity unit have worked together to determine a sufficient outcome for Junior Paulo, for an off-field incident in 2016,” a Canberra statement read.
“The Raiders have been working with the NRL integrity unit closely following Paulo’s, on a suitable outcome for Paulo to protect the games integrity.
“The following conditions have been implemented by the Raiders and NRL integrity unit:
1. Junior Paulo is suspended from playing round 1 of the 2017 NRL Competition;
2. Junior Paulo was suspended from representing the Raiders at the Auckland 9’s competition;
3. Junior Paulo has been made unavailable for the ‘World All Stars’; and
4. Club sanctioned Community Service.”
Raiders CEO Don Furner said the Raiders had a history of making the tough decisions on off-field player behaviour and had worked with the NRL integrity unit to determine a reasonable outcome for Junior’s indiscretion.
“The Raiders believe in upholding the integrity of the game and we’ve worked closely with the NRL to determine this outcome for Junior,” Furner said.
“The NRL has allowed Junior the opportunity to play in the NRL trial match against the Knights on February 18 to preserve his match fitness ahead of the season, but we agreed he should miss one NRL match.”
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