Cronulla Sharks' centre Josh Dugan has been hit with an enormous $50,000 for his alleged COVID breach.
While Dugan has reportedly told The Daily Telegraph he will fight to prove his innocence, claiming he had the paperwork to be in Lithgow when he was stopped by police, the NRL have today put out a breach notice to Dugan.
It comes after Dugan was allegedly stopped by police twice last Friday, almost 150 kilometres from his home. Current public health orders in New South Wales state individuals in Sydne are not allowed to travel outside of their local government area or more than five kilometres from home unless they have valid reason to do, such as providing care or essential work.
The NRL's breach notice proposes a fine of $50,000 to Dugan, as well as the complete removal of the centre from Cronulla's New South Wales bubble.
“The National Rugby League (NRL) has issued Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks player Josh Dugan with a breach notice for failing to comply with the game’s biosecurity protocols,” The NRL said in a statement.
“The notice proposes Dugan is fined $50,000 and removed from the club’s biosecurity bubble in NSW.
“The notice alleges Dugan drove to Lithgow with a friend on the evening of 20 August, in contravention of the game’s Level 4 protocols.
In considering the proposed penalty, the NRL took into account that the alleged breach was Dugan’s second serious contravention of biosecurity protocols in the past 2 months.
The NRL alleges that Dugan has shown a continued failure to comply with the protocols and poses an unacceptable risk to his teammates in the NSW bubble.
Dugan has 5 working days to respond to the Breach Notice."
Dugan was hit with a $25,000 fine previously from the NRL for attending a restaurant in Potts Point at the beginning of Level 4 NRL protocols. That incident did not breach any New South Wales public health orders.