New Canterbury recruit Dylan Napa could be suspended before he makes his Bulldogs debut, with NRL chief executive Todd Greenberg intent on taking stronger action than ever before on players who negatively impact the game's image.
Greenberg returned from vacation on Monday and quickly got on a call with all 16 NRL captains, imploring them: "Stop looking at head office. You guys need to take ownership of this situation".
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Greenberg was instructed by the ARL Commission to get on the front foot and begin to penalise these indiscretions with harsher consequences, after a poor off-season for the league.
A number of players including Jack de Belin, Jarryd Hayne and Napa have all been in the news for the wrong reasons, and Greenberg came out swinging in an interview with the Herald.
"Take it as read: the first time we put the hammer down this year, it’s going to be harder and bigger," Greenberg said.
"And if anyone says, 'What about?' Well, there will be no 'what about?' We're in a new era now. It’s a reset.
"The commission has given me strong guidance to go harder. The deterrents aren't working. And anything relating to violence against women in particular, if it’s proven, will be at the very high end of the scale. If it’s on WhatsApp, it’s the same as Facebook."
The CEO also touched on the Napa videos, and said not only had he seen them, but he was appalled by the vision.
"I have and I was just gobsmacked about the stupidity," Greenberg said.
"The message I just gave to the captains this morning was, 'If you put something into a WhatsApp group, we will treat that exactly the same as if you put it on social media because the likelihood of it getting out publicly is high, if not probable.'"
"'If you’re sending video footage around to other people, what you’re doing is putting your whole career, your livelihood and the reputation of the game in other people’s hands. If you do that, be very careful or it could come back to hurt you'.
"Trying to use someone sending it on as an excuse, is just that: an excuse. You've got to own it. Take some accountability for what you can control. If you don’t make the content, if you don’t film the content, you don't put it out there, people can’t send it on."