THE drama surrounding last Saturday’s dramatic Group 11 clash between Dubbo Westside and Dubbo Macquarie will stretch deep into next week as Group officials search for the best way to handle the volatile situation.
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Three Westside players, as well as two supporters, have been cited by Macquarie, and will front a Group 11 management committee meeting that will probably be held at Narromine on Thursday night.
But their appearance comes amid claims from a Westside official on Tuesday that his club was unaware of the citing process, a claim denied by Group 11 secretary Ross McDermott.
The drama stems from a fiery opening period of the match, eventually won 44-42 by Macquarie, which saw Raiders second-rower Perry Meredith and Rabbitohs skipper Shane Konz sent off for fighting.
As the pair left the Caltex Park playing surface another scuffle ensued, which dragged in other players and spectators, and ultimately brought tensions between both clubs to boiling point.
The match was always going to be a powder keg waiting to explode, with nine former Macquarie players lining up for Westside and Raiders coach Guy Meredith stating before the match his side wanted to dent the Rabbitohs’ finals chances by springing an upset.
“It was ugly, there was no doubt about that and it had the potential to get worse,” McDermott said.
“Both clubs were told there on the day, and even two weeks before that at a general meeting of the Group, that when it came to citing people in any incident, they had until 9am the following day to do so.
“We received six citations from Macquarie, one which was later withdrawn, and none from Westside.
“The citations are a separate issue to the send-offs. Meredith and Konz have both pleaded guilty to the send-off charges and will be dealt with accordingly.”
The Westside official who contacted the Daily Liberal on Tuesday said his club had met on Monday night to discuss the issue, saying the club felt as though it was being “victimised” after their players and fans were cited but nobody from Macquarie had a case to answer.
“We had a trivia night on Saturday night and nobody felt like being there. Obviously it wasn’t a good look but there were two groups involved and only one group has to answer any questions,” the official said.
McDermott spent Monday in consultation with Country Rugby League officials determining the best way to handle the matters, with the players involved to be dealt with this week and the spectators next week.
“The first thing we have to do is give the players a chance to put forward their respective cases and see if they have anything to answer,” McDermott said.
“If it is determined any of them do, they will be stood down from playing this weekend and we will then move forward with an actual disciplinary hearing.
“With the spectators that have been cited, we will deal with them next week as well. It’s a bit unchartered for us so we’re being very careful with how we approach things.
“The good thing is we have Col Fuller from Westside and Mark Meredith from Macquarie coming to the meeting. They’re the presidents of their clubs and, to my knowledge, they have already communicated about what happened and are working towards trying to iron things out a bit.
“Hopefully that process can continue at the meeting this week. Unfortunately there’s not going to be a quick or simple fix to this matter.”