Police get involved after Mad Monday gone wrong

Police have arrived at the pub in The Rocks where the Bulldogs enjoyed a raucous and controversial Mad Monday celebration.

Officers are investigating whether The Harbour View Hotel breached its liquor licence after images of plastered Bulldogs players at the venue were published in The Daily Telegraph on Tuesday.

A police spokesperson told The Daily Telegraph that licensing police were investigating the hotel.

“Police have been made aware of potential licensing issues at a hotel on Lower Fort Street at Dawes Point,” a NSW Police spokeswoman said.

“The reports follow a function at the venue yesterday. Sydney City licensing police have attended the premises to speak with the licensee and make follow up inquiries.

CONTROVERSIAL CALL: Bulldogs star hits out at Mad Monday coverage in deleted post

“While police have received no formal complaints regarding any other matter at the hotel yesterday should further offences be identified action will be taken.”

Bulldogs players were seen stripping off, dancing on tables and throwing up on the street as the celebrations got out of hand in The Rocks.

The players could be seen and heard from the street as they sung along to music, gambled on the pokies and generally went wild – all while the top eight teams launched the NRL Finals nearby at Allianz Stadium.

As festivities came to a shuddering end, drunken players threw up and even passed out on the street.

Young halfback Lachlan Lewis was reportedly one of the first casualties of the celebrations, as he was carried to an Uber at around 7pm.

The incident shapes to be a PR disaster for the NRL ahead of their highly-anticipated finals series.

The Bulldogs released a statement regarding the incident on Tuesday saying the behaviour of players on Mad Monday was “unacceptable”.

“In regard to images from the team’s get together on Monday, the club accepts that they were unacceptable and a poor reflection on the individuals involved and the club,” the statement read.

“The players are aware of their responsibilities and the standards required when representing the club and yesterday’s behaviour was unacceptable and a bad look for the game.

“The club will now work with all relevant stakeholders to gather information and fully review what took place yesterday.

“The club is also working closely with the NRL in regard to determining the next steps in this review.”

Seven sport expert Mark Beretta said the real damage of the incident comes to the brands of the NRL, Bulldogs and their sponsors.

“The players are blowing off some steam at the end of the season, we know about Mad Mondays, they happen every year like this,” Beretta said.

“It’s just a shame the club didn’t take more control of it and somehow do something to protect those players, keep them in a place where they were out of harm’s way, out of the public eye and this would not have happened.

“The damage is in the brand, it’s to the NRL and the Bulldogs. The Bulldogs are commonly linked to this sort of thing, the NRL doesn’t like it and neither do the sponsors. These guys and the club runs on money that comes from sponsors.

“A lot of the sponsors now have a clause in their contract, if it damages their brand, if there’s bad behaviour, that’s a fine for the club.”

The Bulldogs finished the season 12th on the table, after finishing the season with a number of tough victories over top eight sides.

Departing Bulldogs star Josh Morris took to Instagram to make an attempt at defending the actions of the players, sharing a split image of Prince William, with the caption “perception vs reality.”

Meanwhile, Manly Sea Eagles players ignored coach Trent Barrett to enjoy their own Mad Monday celebrations on the northern beaches.

Despite Barrett calling for all players to skip the event and prepare for reviews, the players weren’t holding back.

They started their festivities at the Harbord Beach Hotel in Freshwater, before heading to a cruise ship to finish off their celebrations.

Pay sees finals return for Bulldogs in ’19

Canterbury coach Dean Pay believes his team showed enough improvement during the final six weeks of their regular season to suggest a finals return in 2019.

Pay was in danger of finishing with the wooden spoon in his first year in charge after the Bulldogs won just four of their opening 18 games.

But led by senior players Josh Jackson and David Klemmer, as well as the emergence of youngster Lachlan Lewis, the Bulldogs finished with four victories in their final six games.

Their 12th-placed finish was one spot lower than last year, when coach Des Hasler was sacked despite having more than two years left on his contract.

Pay insists the recent signs point to a possible return to the top eight next year.

“That’s what we’re aiming to do. We want to build into our pre-season off the back of what we’ve done over the last six to eight weeks,” Pay said.

The former Bulldogs forward said the squad would be buoyed by an injection of recruits during the summer, including Penrith pair Corey Harawira-Naera and Christian Crichton.

Newcastle duo Jack Cogger and Nick Meaney will also arrive, as will Wests Tigers prop Sauaso Sue, while Kieran Foran, Raymond Faitala-Mariner and Marcelo Montoya return from injury.

The players begin off-season training on November 1 with the of aim avoiding a third straight finals absence for the first time in more than 50 years.

Pay credited his nucleus of Jackson, Klemmer, Aidan Tolman and Adam Elliott for keeping the playing group upbeat despite a disappointing campaign.

“They’ve really held us together,” Pay said.

“We’ve competed really hard each and every week. We’ve missed out by not too many points on a number of games. We’re really excited about what we can do next year.”

With AAP