A group-sex scandal involving Warriors player Bodene Thompson and a former Penthouse Pet has once again plunged the NRL into turmoil over the off-field behaviour of its players.
Stripper Belinda Medlyn told the Daily Telegraph she had a series of trysts with Thompson and his teammates, participating in secret sex sessions in team hotels and their private apartments.
She said she ultimately fell pregnant to the Warriors forward the night prior to a game against the Canterbury Bulldogs while one of his teammates watched on.
The Warriors confirmed in a statement that Thompson breached protocol by bringing her into the team hotel on the eve of the match against the Bulldogs in Sydney.
Medlyn gave birth to a son, Hendrix, in May of 2016, and now claims that Thompson, a former NZ Maori representative, hasn't been keeping up with his child support payments.
The Warriors said they received confirmation from Thompson's lawyer that he was up-to-date with those payments. This was verified by Australia's Department of Human Services.
Warriors CEO Cameron George said the club has been kept fully informed on proceedings by the 29-year-old's lawyer, and that the NRL's Integrity Unit had also been notified and they were satisfied that his actions hadn't bought the game into disrepute.
George added that it was a personal matter being handled by "his ex-partner and their respective lawyers".
Thompson first met Medlyn when he played for the Wests Tigers. He allegedly had a foursome with the woman and two of his teammates in 2014.
In 2015, after Thompson joined the Warriors, he continued seeing the woman for trysts involving multiple sex partners, the report said.
The former cover model said her story spoke to a wider issue among NRL players and its culture.
"There's a pack mentality among NRL players. They think they're rock stars who can do what they want, until it goes wrong," she told the Daily Mail.
"We were never boyfriend and girlfriend, but Bodene is a role model to men and young boys."
The allegations shine further light on the attitudes of NRL players towards women, harking back to 2002 and Matthew Johns' well-documented controversy involving his teammates and consensual group sex with a New Zealand teenager in Christchurch.
Thompson is now in a relationship with Kaea Pearce, a dancer in renowned choreographer Parris Goebel's ReQuest crew.
His contract with the Warriors runs through to the end of the 2017 season and has not yet been renewed, the incident casting doubt over his future with the club.
Newshub.
