David Klemmer has been issued a show cause notice by the Newcastle Knights after he allegedly abused one of the club's trainers.
The forward has subsequently been stood down too with Knights head coach Adam O'Brien not picking him for this weekend's clash against Wests Tigers.
The Knights released a statement confirming the 'on field disciplinary matter' and have not put a timeline on when he will return.
The incident came just after the 71st minute of the Knights' 24-10 loss at the hands of the Canterbury Bulldogs.
In vision posted online, you can see Newcastle trainer Hayden Knowles approach Klemmer in a bid to make a substitution.
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But Klemmer seemingly bats away his advances, refusing to come off the field.
The trainer then appears to try again before he's ignored once more.
It's understood that during that exchange, Klemmer allegedly verbally abused his Newcastle colleague.
The NRL 360 panel examined the incident, deep diving into what's really going on behind closed doors at the Knights.
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“It happened over a series of tackles throughout the last minutes of the game, where they continually tried to get him off the field,” The Daily Telegraph's Paul Kent said on the show.
“Now Klemmer just refused to go. He’s been disciplined, he hasn’t been chosen after this weekend’s game.”
Paul Crawley also chimed in, claiming there's 'more to it' and that the playing group are perhaps unsettled up in Newcastle.
“It's bigger than this. There’s a problem up at Newcastle that everyone’s ducking and covering from, there’s players up there that aren’t happy,” Crawley added.
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"There’s a division within the club and no one can deny it. You’ve just got to look at their performances.
“There’s obviously some players out there that aren’t real happy and David Klemmer on the weekend has probably fired up.
“Something’s happened to him on the field, he didn’t want to come off but I assure you there’s got to be more to it.”
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Klemmer's ex-teammate James Graham claimed Klemmer 'looks very frustrated' at the moment.
“He has very high expectations of himself and takes pride in his performances and especially his numbers,” Graham said.
“He can be one of those guys who is reluctant to leave the field of play. This is against his old club as well. I can understand why he may have wanted to stay out there.
“There were times the rotation with those middle forwards and Klemmer would protest leaving the field of play if he thought he could have an impact on the result.”
Topics: Australia, NRL, Rugby League
Max Sherry