Newcastle's David Klemmer has been accused of calling an NRL official a “f***ing idiot” in his side's 54-10 loss to the Panthers on Sunday, according to The Daily Telegraph.
It was a fiery contest late in the Panthers Stadium clash, with claims that Klemmer swore at a member of the NRL staff while leaving for the interchange.
The NRL is currently investigating the incident, which could result in a hefty fine and even put Klemmer's Kangaroos jersey in doubt.
In what was a dark day for Newcastle, caretaker coach Kristian Woolf admitted it had been a tough period in recent times.
“When you’ve got disruption in a footy club, then if affects performance,” Woolf told reporters post-match.
“There’s no doubt about that.
“We’ve obviously been very affected by a lot of things over the last couple of weeks. When footy clubs are unsettled, you don’t perform.
“That’s been proven plenty of times over a number of years.
“But that still doesn’t give us any reason for what we tossed out (on Sunday). We just weren’t committed for a game of footy unfortunately.”