KNIGHTS skipper Kalyn Ponga could be facing the largest fine in the club's history if he is found guilty of serious misconduct after his much-publicised toilet-cubicle incident involving teammate Kurt Mann on Saturday night.
Ponga and Mann are being investigated by the NRL Integrity Unit and, along with other teammates, are understood to have provided drug testers with urine samples.
NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo said on Wednesday the results of those swabs will not be made public and added: "No-one is saying that they have breached the rules ... our job is to get all the facts and then make the determination. And not to prejudge anything."
Knights director of football Peter Parr also said on Tuesday: "We haven't discussed any punishment yet because we don't know if there's any punishment to be had."
It is understood the two players maintain they have done nothing wrong, although they would appear to have violated club policy by consuming alcohol while they are unavailable through injury.
Ponga has missed three games with concussion, while Mann has been sidelined for more than a month with a torn quadriceps.
There is also the issue of whether the media attention their faux pas has attracted has brought the club, and the game, into disrepute.
Knights CEO Philip Gardner has taken a hard line on player misbehaviour in the past, fining former centre Tautau Moga $60,000 and Jacob Saifiti $50,000 - half of which in both cases was suspended - for off-field incidents. In January, 2019, Gardner told the Newcastle Herald: "Every case will be treated on its merits, and obviously all the facts need to be looked at in any incident, but the fine of 25 per cent on the contract will be across the board for everyone.
"Depending on what the incidents are, to go above that, you are looking at suspensions or terminations."
The 25 per cent policy was criticised as a "sledgehammer" approach by then Rugby League Players' Association CEO Ian Prendergast, and it is understood the maximum fine the Knights can now impose on a player is 12 weeks' wages.
On that basis, given that Ponga is on a club-record deal worth more than $1 million, in the worst-case scenario, he could potentially be facing an unprecedented fine of more than $200,000.
The Knights would need to weigh that up against the sanctions imposed on Melbourne trio Cameron Munster, Brandon Smith and Chris Lewis last year after a video emerged of them with white powder. Munster was fined $30,000 by the NRL, Smith $15,000 and Lewis $4000. Melbourne imposed suspended fines on Munster of $100,00, $50,000 on Smith and $10,000 on Lewis.
All three were suspended by the NRL for one game.
As well as any punishment they may receive from the Knights, if found guilty of any offence, Ponga and Mann might also be sanctioned by the NRL.
In addition to fines and/or suspensions, there have been calls for the Knights to strip Ponga of the captaincy.
His predecessor Mitchell Pearce was forced to stand down as captain after a controversy in which he was alleged to have sent inappropriate text messages to a female Knights staff member.
The unseemly episode forced Pearce and his then fiancee to call off their planned wedding at late notice.
Parr, was asked at a media conference on Tuesday about speculation surrounding possible drug use and replied that he was keeping an "open mind on the whole situation".
Ponga's father, Andre, suggested to News Corp on Monday that his son and Mann were in the cubicle because Newcastle's skipper was under the weather.
"He made an exciting house purchase Saturday and celebrated with a few mates drinking," Ponga senior was quoted as saying.
"Sick in the toilet and his mate went in to help him."
Parr said on Tuesday that incident was "not a great look" for the club but there had been "no direction given to Kalyn [from his neurologists] that he shouldn't drink".
With regards to Ponga's future as captain, Parr acknowledged a "lack of leadership" was an issue Knights management needed to address.
