BY DAN

Raiders recruit Daine Laurie might be in trouble. It’s a little bit complicated.

According to the Daily Telegraph, last year Laurie was charged by police with possessing a prohibited drug. Laurie never made it to court because the charges were dropped, and he was issued with a on-the-spot fine. No adverse finding of wrongdoing was made against Laurie by the court. The matter is therefore resolved legally as far as we can tell.

But for the NRL this isn’t the end of the matter. They have concerns beyond the legal process. According to the reporting the matter was never brought to the attention of the NRL Integrity Unit. This presents a unique scenario. A player was involved in a matter of interest to the Integrity Unit while on one team, only for it to come to light when he joined another.

Questions about propriety and fairness will be at the forefront of the discussion. Just when and what the Panthers knew will likely be one focus of the investigation. Whether Laurie hid anything from the club will be another. What the Raiders knew at time of signature may be another. We’ll have to wait and see.

How the NRL handles this will be interesting. A more complicated picture has been avoided by the fact that this appears to be Laurie’s first offence (as far as we know). According to the NRL’s operations advice,

“a first positive test results in the player receiving a suspended fine, and they must undertake a mandatory treatment program. The player is also placed on a monitoring program which involves targeted testing.”

While this isn’t a positive test, it seems a fair equivalence. The facts that he was in possession of the drug does not appear to be contested. If the matter a second offence then it becomes more serious (a twelve-match ban or worse).

While there will be a one-eyed temptation to try and push any ramifications on to the Panthers (depending on the outcomes of the investigation) there is an ever-present risk this will have some impact on the Raiders. If some fault is found of Laurie, either in the act or some lack of transparency with the league, he could be subject to action. That would be a shame for Canberra, and won’t enamor Laurie to his new team. But them’s the breaks.

The spectrum of possible outcomes is wide, depending on if anyone didn’t fulfil their reporting requirements. If the finding is just in line with the first offence then it’s a fine and mostly a problem for Laurie. If the investigation reveals something more substantial, then the risk is escalated.

This would have obvious impacts for depth at a host of positions across the backline and expose the Raiders in the event of a major injury at any halves position. Canberra will manage, but it’s a problem they’d prefer not to have. One might suggest it could create unnecessary chaos, but they handled an admittedly different incident with similar ramifications at Vegas last year. It had no long-term impacts there.

The only thing that seems certain at the moment is it’s unlikely this will be resolved in time for teamlist Tuesday. Prior to this we’d expected him to be named as a backup utility on the Raiders bench. Pending no other information, we’d still expect that to occur.

It’s a shame though. Laurie has come to the club in an attempt to find stability and permanence in a career that’s promised a lot and never quite delivered. This is hardly how he, or the Raiders, would have liked his time in Canberra to start.

The Sportress is transitioning away from Facebook and Twitter for distribution so sign up to the email below before we disappear from your feed altogether. Don’t hesitate to send us feedback (dan@sportress.org) or comment below if you think we are stupid. Or if we’re not.