The NRL has deregistered Canterbury players Jayden Okunbor and Corey Harawira-Naera following a breach of the competition’s code of conduct.
The Bulldogs duo have been sacked by the club as a result after an investigation into their behaviour during a pre-season trip in February, when they took two high school girls back to the team’s hotel.
They will not face charges as the girls were over the age of consent, however, they were found to have made serious breaches to the NRL’s code of conduct.
“The behaviour of both players was inexcusable and a very serious breach of the code of conduct,” NRL chief executive Todd Greenberg said.
“The game will not tolerate such conduct and as such both players have had their registrations cancelled.”
A statement by the Bulldogs read: “The conduct of the two players, on the eve of our final trial match, demonstrated an unacceptable lack of respect for their teammates, their coach and club officials, our hosts in Port Macquarie and fans of the game everywhere.
“An important part of the role of being a professional rugby league player is to promote the game and act as an ambassador for your club and the code.
“There can be no tolerance for any abuse of the privileged status the game affords its leading players.”
Harawira-Naera, 24, is a New Zealand international who played for the Kiwis in their two victories over Great Britain and scored the winning try in the first of the two Tests.
Okunbor, a 23-year-old winger, made his debut last season scoring five tries in ten games.
