In a whirlwind week for the National Rugby League, a number of St George Illawarra players have apologised for their role in the biosecurity and public health order breaches that occurred in early July.
Any further apologies will appear in this article in due course.
Jack de Belin Matt Dufty, Kaide Ellis, Josh Kerr, Blake Lawrie and Josh McGuire
All six players delivered their own video message, which you can watch below.
Players apologise for biosecurity breach
Gerard Beale
Dragons centre Beale first apologised on Monday afternoon via his Instagram story:
"To my teammates, coaching staff, St George Illawarra Dragons' board, members, fans, the pan66.community, NSW government and everyone impacted by my poor decision making – I'm sorry.
"I am deeply disappointed in my decision-making and actions that occurred last weekend on July 3. I should have respected and honoured the biosecurity rules that are put in place to protect us. Instead, I made a disrespectful and stupid decision.
"I am extremely sorry for my actions. It's important I take ownership of this mistake and learn from this experience. I hope I can rebuild the trust and your respect in the near future."
Jack Bird
Bird took to Instagram Story on Monday night to lament his behaviour in breaching the biosecurity protocols and public health order.
"I would like to take this time to apologise to my teammates, our coaching staff, the @NRL_Dragons, its sponsors and members, the NRL as well as the wider community who were impacted by my poor decision last weekend.
"I am deeply disappointed and embarrassed by my actions. I should have respected and honoured the rules that the NRL and state government put in place to keep our game going. For that, I am truly sorry.
"I know I have lost a lot of respect and trust from my peers and fans, and I will be working extremely hard to earn that respect and trust back.
"I take full ownership of my actions and I know I have definitely learnt from this experience.
"From the bottom of my heart I am sorry and I hope I can earn your respect and trust back."
Tyrell Fuimaono
Fuimaono apologised for the discression on his personal Instagram account.
"I wish to express my sincere apologies to the NRL, the Dragons fans, staff, sponsors and my teammates for the decision I made to breach the protocol.
"It was careless and I am taking responsibility and learning from my mistakes.
"I am hoping you can accept my apology as I am genuinely remorseful for my behavior."
Zac Lomax
Lomax penned this apology on his personal Instagram account on Tuesday evening.
"I wish to sincerely apologise for my irresponsible behavior in attending a gathering and breaking Covid protocol.
"It was stupid and irresponsible and I genuinely regret what I did.
"To the club, the Dragons' fans, our sponsors, stakeholders, my teammates who were not involved, the NRL and my family - please accept my sincere apology."
Corey Norman
Norman expressed his remorse after reflecting on the incident in an Instagram story post on his personal account.
"First of all, I want to take full responsibility for my actions a couple of weekends ago at Paul Vaughan's house.
"I look back now and realised how arrogant it looks. This past week I had the time to reflect on how many people it has affected.
"I am sorry to the NRL and everyone working to keep our great game going in these tough times.
"To the members, sponsors and fans, I'm deeply sorry. You are what makes our game so good and our club so great. We have lost your trust and that is hard to take.
"I would also like to apologise to hook, the coaching staff and my teammates. We have been working so hard for so long and what we did was a slap in the face.
"Again I am sorry for what I have done and I'm working on getting your trust and respect back."
Daniel Alvaro
Alvaro took to his Instagram story in mid-July, stating:
"I would like to apologise to the NRL, the Dragons fans, staff, sponsors and my teammates for the decision I made to attend a gathering which broke covid protocols.
"I would also like to apologise to anyone else in the wider community that my actions may have offended.
"I made a really poor decision which I take full responsibility for and I will do my best to make up for my actions however I can."
