Two footy agents land in hot water with the NRL as league chiefs propose hefty bans and fines for breaching Agents' Code of Conduct
The NRL has slapped two player agents with proposed sanctions after the pair are alleged to have breached the league's rules.
On Thursday afternoon, the AFL published a statement online in which it stated that Mario Tartak and Matthew Desira had been issued with show cause notices.
The pair have until Tuesday to respond.
Tartak, who manages Josh Addo-Carr and Josh Schuster, is facing a 12-month ban and a $25,000 fine after the NRL accused him of 'communicating with an underage player without a parent and/or legal guardian being present.'
The NRL also claims Tartak had commenced a 'commercial arrangement' with two footy clubs, which contravened the rules of the league's Accredited Agent Scheme Rules.
The NRL wrote in a statement: 'The proposed penalty took into consideration previous breach proceedings which imposed conditions that further breaches could result in suspension of accreditation.'
Meanwhile, Desira, is facing a six-month ban and a $10,000 fine.
League chiefs claim his proposed sanctions relate to non-reporting and dishonesty 'following police charges and court proceedings which were brought against' the player agent, who is the director of Aria Management Group, who have players including Hayden Campbell and Bronson Xerri on their books.
'Under the Accredited Agents' Code of Conduct, Accredited Agents are required to operate with high personal and professional standards,' the league explained.
Desira was charged with the possession of cocaine last year and pleaded guilty. No conviction was recorded.
He was allegedly on a night out at Sussudio in Potts Point, when he was arrested for possession of the substance on April 5.
The Sydney Morning Herald reports that the NRL's breach notice relates to claims that Desira's initial claims to police and the Agents Accreditation Scheme that he had not been arrested. He had claimed that a person who he knew had been using his identity and was in possession of the prohibited substance.
Magistrate Scott Nash later said that the offence was 'on the lower end of seriousness. It's out of character based on his record. He pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity.'
Tartak's counsel, Nick Ghabar, told The Sydney Morning Herald: 'This is a matter that directly involves my client's livelihood and as such my client intends to respond to the NRL's show-cause notice as is appropriate.
'To be clear, he does not accept any assertion that he knowingly contravened the Player Agent Rules. His response will come in the fullness of time and it would be inappropriate to make any further comment at this time.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Guardian
22 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Ange Postecoglou's wild ride ends at Spurs after steering Australia back to the big time
Ange Postecoglou took Tottenham Hotspur on the wildest of rides. A record-breaking run to begin his first Premier League campaign in charge. An injury-riddled slump that led Spurs to within sight of relegation the next season. A promise to win a trophy in his second year. The club's first piece of silverware since 2008. The sack coming just 16 days later. All-out attack. Defensive dare. Stirring late comebacks. Calamitous and costly goals conceded at the death. No score was safe. No Spurs supporter, let alone pundit, was left without an entrenched view of his capabilities as a coach. No football fan, whether in north London or as far away as Australia, dared to look away. The hair-raising adventure is one that Australian football fans have been on before. During Postecoglou's time in charge of the men's national team, as the Socceroos failed to earn a point in a horror group at the 2014 World Cup but rallied to win the Asian Cup the following year. When the coach had earlier led Brisbane Roar to a pair of A-League championships, and later won the J1 League with Yokohama and five trophies with Scottish giants Celtic. A manic press in attack. A high line in defence. Goals at both ends. Peaks and troughs across each game, let alone during a full campaign. A rollercoaster ride has always been part of the Postecoglou experience. Taking the show on the road to Japan and Scotland sparked fresh Australian interest in Postecoglou's teams and those leagues. But bringing it to the Premier League has steered Australia back to the big time. Not since the days when Tim Cahill, Harry Kewell and Mark Viduka graced the main stage have Australians been given such a solid reason to support a second English team. As fans relished watching Postecoglou rattle the football establishment, Tottenham Hotspur became the hottest club in his distant homeland. A whirlwind stirred up around a brash foreign manager arriving in the Premier League is nothing new. A laconic Australian demeanour and press conferences peppered with gratuitous use of the term 'mate' – while otherwise doing little to conceal a hard edge and stubborn confidence – left fans as much as the media hanging off his every word, while his compatriots were warmed by a sense of pride. The 59-year-old has been unwavering in his ideals, for better or worse, throughout his coaching journey. Postecoglou is not just comfortable dividing opinion. He often appears to go out of his way to hammer a wedge through it. But whether Spurs' ruthless decision to axe a coach who led the club to a European title just 16 days earlier is the right call is much less clear and will remain one up for debate. After a fifth-place finish in the Premier League, just two points and one spot short of a ticket to the Champions League, Postecoglou this season guided Spurs to their worst top-flight finish in more than a century. Did Spurs pay a heavy price for their commitment to an intense style that caused the heart of the side to be ripped out through injury? Or was the coach handed a poisoned chalice with a thin squad relying too much on talented youth to compete on multiple fronts and then go all-in on a knockout competition in the chase for silverware? Whether or not their Premier League campaign was truly allowed to just wither away, as Postecoglou has since suggested, Spurs found a back door to the lucrative continental competition on an emotion-charged night in Bilbao. Spurs' 17-year trophy drought was finally broken with Europa League glory, leading to lifelong memories to be created in the Spanish city and later on the streets of north London, while Postecoglou was lauded back home as one of Australia's great exports. It was as much validation for Australian football as a victory for a favourite son. Proof that one of our own not only belonged on the global stage, but could conquer it – even if for one night only. Sign up to Australia Sport Get a daily roundup of the latest sports news, features and comment from our Australian sports desk after newsletter promotion The response in Australia to Postecoglou's sacking has, perhaps unsurprisingly, been centred around dismay and disappointment rather than simply one of shock. Spurs, under chair Daniel Levy, are after all a club that sacked Mauricio Pochettino mere months after he took them to the 2019 Champions League final. Another divisive coach in José Mourinho was let go in the week leading into the 2021 League Cup decider. Here is further proof that winning a trophy isn't necessarily everything in the high stakes world of football, or even just enough to save a coach's job. Spurs will now have another new manager for the Super Cup against Paris Saint-Germain in August, and never find out whether season three under Postecoglou would have been better than season two. Postecoglou has arrived at a new coaching frontier after being sent packing while still under contract. Where he lands next, whether looking to right any perceived wrongs back in the Premier League or as a breath of fresh air elsewhere in Europe, we can be sure that he will take his principles with him and that Australian football fans will follow.
The Guardian
26 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Australian universities urge Albanese to join New Zealand in $170bn Europe fund amid Trump attacks on education
Australian universities are urging the Albanese government to join New Zealand in a $170bn Europe research fund amid US president Donald Trump's sweeping crackdown on higher education and international students. Universities Australia's executive officer, Luke Sheehy, travelled to Brussels this week to meet representatives from the European Commission and the Australian ambassador, Angus Campbell, to discuss the possibility of joining Horizon Europe. The seven-year scientific collaborative research fund, with a budget of €95.5bn ($168bn), has 20 non-European partners – including New Zealand, the United Kingdom and Canada – but the Australian government has so far been reluctant to join. Industry insiders have attributed the government's reluctance to potential costs. New Zealand will pay €19m ($33m) over five years to be part of the program. The EU is drawing up strategies for the next seven-year funding cycle, due to begin in 2028, with a proposal expected to be announced mid-year. About €36bn ($63bn) is still available to the end of 2027. In comparison, Australia's total annual spend on research across all sectors is less than $40bn. Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email Sheehy said in a rapidly changing global environment, association with the body would give Australian researchers access to a mega-fund and support international collaboration on key sectors, including health and the environment. 'Growing geopolitical uncertainties are threatening to reshape our existing research alliances and we must adapt to remain ahead of the game,' he said. 'If we're serious about building a prosperous and productive economy, we need a seat at the table, particularly in a changing and more complex global environment.' The trade minister, Don Farrell, is in Paris this week restarting negotiations on a trade deal with the EU. Sheehy 'strongly encourage[d]' him to make Australia's involvement in Horizon Europe a focus of conversations. 'There is a strong appetite in Europe to have Australia come on board,' Sheehy said. 'This would remove the biggest roadblock for Australian researchers and scientists working with their European and other counterparts around the world. It's mutually beneficial. 'For what is a relatively modest investment, our best and brightest would gain access to billions of dollars in potential funding to take their work to the next level.' The higher eduction sector has closely focussed on Horizon Europe since the Trump administration was accused of possible 'foreign interference' in Australia's universities in March, pausing funding for programs at more than six universities. Researchers who receive US funding were sent a questionnaire asking them to confirm they aligned with US government interests and promoted administration priorities – including avoiding 'DEI, woke gender ideology and the green new deal'. Australia's Group of Eight CEO, Vicki Thomson, wrote to then-industry minister, Ed Husic, earlier this year on behalf of its member universities and the European Australian Business Council (EABC) CEO, Jason Collins, urging Australia to associate with the research fund. It has prepared a brief for the ambassador to the US, Kevin Rudd, at his request. Thomson, also the EABC deputy chair, has lobbied the government to join Horizon Europe for more than a decade. She will be meeting with stakeholders for negotiations in the next fortnight as part of an EABC delegation to Europe. Thomson said association with Horizon Europe was 'critical' to boosting productivity and providing essential buffers against negative global trends. 'Like trade, changes to the global research funding environment are also sending shocks around the world,' she said. 'The US is withdrawing from international research collaboration through the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health and other agencies as well as defunding research in diversity, equity and inclusion. 'In the face of this, it is imperative that Australia maintains and extends international research collaboration through formal association with Horizon Europe.' The Australian Academy of Science president, Prof Chennupati Jagadish AC, also wants Australia to join the lucrative research fund, pointing to a possible research vacuum in the face of an increasingly unstable US. In April, the body announced a new global talent attraction program to capitalise on academics disfranchised by the Trump administration's research cuts. Americans represent 40% of collaborators in Australian physical sciences publications – including observational systems relied on for cyclone tracking capability and onshore mRNA vaccine manufacturing. Jagadish said the government must 'immediately act to diversify risk' by expanding international research collaborations, focusing on Horizon Europe. The industry minister, Madeleine King, was approached for comment.
Daily Mail
27 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Aussies react to shock arrest video of young Aboriginal woman in tiny town
Aussies have questioned the use of force used by officers during the arrest of a young Aboriginal woman in Western Australia. Officers detained the 25-year-old woman from Millars Well, a town about 540km northeast of Exmouth, after she allegedly breached bail conditions on Monday. Footage of the arrest, shared on Facebook, shows the woman screaming as she is pulled from a car, handcuffed on the ground and carried by two officers to a van. As a crowd gathered outside the home, a female officer was seen gesturing with a can of pepper spray to try and stop them from approaching. Another police vehicle with more officers arrived as the woman was put in the van. At least two male officers could then be seen approaching the group and pushing them away from the police van. Shocked viewers questioned the officers' use of force in the comments. 'I legit got tears. This is very triggering,' one person wrote. 'There was no need for this kind of force,' a second said. 'If they don't know how to work with mob, why don't they talk to the elders in community and get help,' a third commented. 'This town is not far from where I live,' a fourth added. 'This behaviour by police is so unnecessary!' The woman was not injured during the arrest and no medical assistance was required, WA Police told Daily Mail Australia in a statement. The woman was arrested for allegedly breaching her bail conditions by being at a home in Millars Well. 'It will be alleged as the woman was being arrested, she obstructed police, locking herself in a vehicle,' police said in a statement. Officers were called to the home about 10:30am on Monday after an alleged physical altercation between people known to each other. Police had responded to an incident at the same location earlier that day. WA Police declined to comment on the way officers handled the incident. The woman has since been charged with one count each of obstructing public officers, common assault in circumstances of aggravation or racial aggravation and possessing a prohibited drug, methylamphetamine. She appeared in court on Monday and is next due to appear before the Karratha Magistrates Court on July 29. The arrest video came just days after the shocking death of an Indigenous man Kumanjayi White at a supermarket in Alice Springs on May 27. NT Police last week said White 'stopped breathing' after he was restrained by two officers and confirmed the death is being investigated on behalf of the coroner. It is the second death to rock the small Yuendumu community and comes six years after Kumanjayi Walker was shot dead by NT Police officer Zachary Rolfe.
