Over the weekend, it was reported that South Sydney players Luke Burgess and John Sutton had been involved in a vague ‘incident’ of some sort while on a high-altitude training camp in the U.S. last year.
Since then, further details have emerged of a wild night that left a security guard bleeding, and Burgess and Sutton sitting handcuffed by the side of the street, facing disorderly conduct and assault charges.
News Limited recently obtained police reports that detail what actually went down on the night of last November 30, and as tales of footy players behaving badly go, they’re a pretty entertaining read.
The very short version is that police in Flagstaff, Arizona, were called to sushi bar-slash-nightclub Monsoons when an intoxicated patron, Sutton, refused to leave after being asked by a security guard.
The security guard, Patrick Scruggs, described Sutton as slamming his fists on the bar and acting “like an asshole.” Bouncers were called in, and this is when Burgess became involved, grabbing Scruggs and throwing him to the ground, leaving him with cuts to the forehead.
Police arrived to find the pair with “bloodshot red watery eyes”, smelling strongly of “intoxicating beverages”. They were handcuffed and questioned, but, in true NRL Players Gone Wild-style, were “adamant they had done nothing wrong.”
Burgess and Sutton were briefly detained by police, although charges were withdrawn.
In the wake of the incident, South Sydney reportedly fined both a “significant amount of money”. Sutton was stripped of the club’s captaincy, while Burgess made a late off-season switch to Manly.
Even though the information about the night is only coming to light now, the NRL have denied any allegations of trying to cover it up, saying they were “completely satisfied” with South Sydney’s handling of the fallout.
Photo: Renee McKay via Getty Images
