Sky Sport News: Teen sex scandal which has hit the Bulldogs in the NRL. Video / Sky Sport
Canterbury has reportedly decided to sack stood down star Jayden Okunbor over the club's schoolgirl sex scandal.
Okunbor and Kiwi teammate Corey Harawira-Naera were preliminarily suspended by the NRL for taking teenage schoolgirls back to the team hotel for sex while in camp in Port Macquarie last month, breaking the game's code of conduct.
Both players have been handed show cause notices by the NRL with the pair now having the chance to respond and deliver their case for why they should not be kicked out of the game.
Channel 9's Neil Breen has now reported Okunbor is likely to be kicked out of the game and deregistered while Harawira-Naera is facing a suspension of 8-12 matches.
"The reason they're in so much trouble is because the girls were from a high school that the Bulldogs went to see on a school visit," Breen told Nine's 100% Footy on Monday night.
"Now Jayden Okunbor is in more trouble than Corey Harawira-Naera even though they both took schoolgirls from the same school back to the hotel.
"The NRL has found that both players knew what they were doing. Both players knew that they were both schoolgirls from the school that they visited, which is why they threw the book at them in a 36-hour investigation.
He said the Bulldogs will this week advise the NRL on its disciplinary plan.
"The strong mail is that Okunbor will get sacked. He'll lose his job as an NRL player and that Harawira-Naera is looking at 8-12 weeks, saved only by the fact that he wasn't on the school visit and met her outside of school hours," he said.
The report suggests that the NRL could follow the Bulldogs' decision by deregistering Okunbor and make him off-limits to rival clubs. The Super League is also expected to follow the lead of any NRL decision. It potentially leaves Okunbor's career in tatters.
Wide World of Sports reports club officials are furious at the pair.
"We are filthy with them," a club official told Nine.
"They have blackened the name of the club and undone all the good work from the boys over the summer. It won't be forgotten in a hurry."
New Zealander Corey Harawira-Naera. Photo / Getty Images
It comes as senior Bulldogs players Josh Jackson and Aiden Tolman voiced their concerns for the duo facing further suspension or deregistration.
Their actions are not subject to a criminal investigation.
While he doesn't condone their behaviour, Bulldogs captain Jackson said he is concerned for the wellbeing of Okunbor, 23, and Harawira-Naera, 24, no matter what the punishment is.
"I will say those two guys, (what they did) doesn't reflect us as a club, it doesn't reflect our values and it doesn't reflect those guys' character as well," he said.
"We've got to make sure that we're careful here because they're young guys who've made a really bad decision, doesn't mean they're bad people, and we've got to make sure their welfare and their mental state is really looked after as well.
"We've got to be supportive of that." The scandal has cost the club a major sponsorship deal with Rashays, believed to be worth $2 million.
The Bulldogs are now without a front of jersey sponsor heading into round two. Although disappointed, Tolman echoed Jackson's concern and said while he has an opinion on the punishment the pair should face, he won't voice it publicly.
"It's a very difficult situation, they've obviously done the wrong thing and let down the team and the club and everyone else involved in it, the fans, the members, but in saying that too, they're really good people," he said.
"For me, this is well out of character for what they both bring to this club.
"What's more important for me is making sure their welfare is all right.
"There's going to be some harsh calls come down and they need to know what they did was wrong, and not right, but in saying that too they're still people, we still need to make sure we're there to support them during this time.
