Bulldogs scandal hits NRL

THE NRL’s season kickoff tonight will be overshadowed by Canterbury’s schoolgirl scandal with two Bulldogs players currently barred from training or playing for the club.

Corey Harawira-Naera and Jayden Okunbor’s futures remain the subject of an NRL and club investigation for bringing two teenage schoolgirls to the team hotel in Port Macquarie last month.

School visits are one of the pillars of the NRL’s community work, with thousands of hours committed to such projects every year.

Player education around school visits has previously been part of the NRL’s program, with advice including not giving a student their phone number and not contacting them.

In another education session for rookies in recent years, players are taught to be wary of people who approach them via social media and to be careful of their ages.

Yesterday screen grabs of the messages between Okunbor and one of the girls on the winger’s now deleted Instagram account were revealed.

The exchange begins with the girl asking Okunbor “Having a good stalk?”, to which he replies “Yeah had to have a good look, what are we doing tonight?” “You” she responded before Okunbor asks: “We’re [sic] you at the school today.”

She replies with what is believed to be a photo of the pair, as well as another Bulldogs player, at the school that day.

Tonight’s competition opener was meant to be a celebration for the NRL, and the 30-year anniversary of their famous Simply the Best campaign headed by American singer Tina Turner.