St George Illawarra Dragons have sacked forward Paul Vaughan for hosting a COVID protocol-breaching party last weekend.
After the Dragons' win over NZ Warriors on Saturday, New South Wales Police broke up the party at Vaughan's home, resulting in fines and suspensions for him and 12 of his teammates from the NRL Integrity Unit.
Vaughan was handed the heaviest punishment, dealt a $AU50,000 ($NZ53,000) fine and an eight-game suspension.
Now the incident has also cost Vaughan his place on the Dragons' roster, with his contract torn up at a board meeting on Tuesday.
The 30-year-old has been with the Dragons since 2017 and has played 93 games for the historic franchise.
The party is the second time Vaughan had been busted breaching the game's COVID protocols, after he was found visiting a cafe in Wollongong last season at the height of the pandemic.
The other 12 teammates, including Jack de Belin, will serve one-match bans, which the Dragons can spread over four weeks to field a side.
De Belin has also been fined $AU$41,000 ($NZ 43,700), after reportedly hiding under a bed to avoid Police, as they broke up the party.
"On the information we have, the players understood the protocols and deliberately chose to ignore them," says NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo.
"They chose to risk the continuity of our competition."
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