Rabbitohs players reportedly caught up in Auckland lewd video chat

South Sydney Rabbitohs coach Anthony Seibold threatened to walk out of a press conference on Friday, batting away questions about a lewd video scandal that has rocked the club.

A 23-year-old woman has claimed two high-profile South Sydney players exposed themselves during a video chat without her consent.

The video chat is reported to have involved several star players, but only two have been accused of misbehaving, reports the Daily Telegraph.

One player allegedly exposed his genitals, while a second flashed his bottom - which the reportedly woman has screenshots of.

It is understood the players were celebrating their 30-10 win over the New Zealand Warriors on May 26 in Auckland.

Seibold told reporters on Friday he had not seen the picture sent to the club, and he insists all the team is focused on is their semi-final against the Dragons on Saturday.

"I'm not obliged to talk about it, I'm obliged to talk about the game," Seibold said.

"I'm not going to play judge and jury today. Most of my time has been spent with management this morning.

"With regards to the accusations, we take the accusations seriously, as do the integrity unit. At the moment, they're accusations. I've not seen any photos myself. I've heard the accusations and I'm not willing to make any comment until the investigation is completed.

"It's a bit of chaos but the players can handle it. It's not ideal. We've got our last practice today."

The club released a statement on the issue earlier.

"The South Sydney Rabbitohs will investigate claims in today's media regarding alleged player behaviour in May this year. A thorough investigation will be undertaken in conjunction, and in close cooperation, with the NRL's integrity unit," it read.

"Since receiving contact details last night for the female involved, Rabbitohs officials have attempted to make contact via phone and email. The Rabbitohs take any allegations of player misbehaviour very seriously and will not be making any further comment until the completion of the investigation."

In the days after the alleged incident, it's claimed one of the players in question repeatedly tried to called the woman, even after she had made it clear she wanted to be left alone.

She then contacted the club to inform them about the issue on June 1, but claims she never heard back from the club despite repeated emails, which resulted in her going to the media.

A club spokesman confirmed the woman's initial email was received by the club's football operations manager Brock Schafer on June 1. But subsequent emails from the woman on June 5 and August 31 were never responded to.

The spokesman said the woman's emails were identified as spam mail by the club's mail server - a conclusion supported by an independent contractor's investigation of the club's email system.

"I do know that there's been an independent company come in to look at the email trail and again I'm not across that," Seibold added.

"The NRL integrity unit, from my understanding, have known about this for a couple of days, I don't know how long they've known about it for, what the communications channels were and why it is the focus on the day before a semi-final.

"Obviously like I said before, it is not ideal that these accusations have come out - they're front page news, it is not what anyone wants. It's not what I want, it is not what our game needs. I would rather talk about tonight's game and tomorrow night's game."

The Daily Telegraph didn't name the accused players.

 

Photo caption: South Sydney Rabbitohs coach Anthony Seibold