NRL: Young, Smithies explain hotel scuffle in Las Vegas

Canberra Raiders players Hudson Young and Morgan Smithies insist there was nothing in the pair’s hotel scuffle ahead of the 2025 NRL Premiership beginning in Las Vegas this Sunday (AEDT).

The duo were sanctioned for an incident last Thursday which led to both being briefly ejected from their hotel after a night out.

Both players apologised in a press conference on Monday, confirming that there was no bad blood between them and the matter simply “got out of hand”.

“We came back after a night out on Thursday and there was an issue with the room,” Young said.

“We’re not going to go into details of that.

“There was a scuffle in the elevator, nothing in the hallways.

“We came back as a team and one of the boys had got a toy baseball bat somewhere.

“That was mistaken as a weapon in the elevator but it played no role.

“Security didn’t break anything up. We went downstairs to sort our room out and that’s when they’ve reviewed the footage and asked us to leave.

“The club sorted it out and we’re very thankful to be staying here at Resorts World.”

An earlier report by the Sydney Morning Herald claimed that punches were thrown when Young would not allow Smithies to share a bed with him.

“Smithies wanted to spend the night sharing a bed with his teammate and best friend,” the article said.

“That was met with resistance from Young and what began as a wrestle for the room turned into a brawl with punches being thrown.”

Raiders coach Ricky Stuart briefly addressed the issue on Monday as well, saying it had been handled internally.

“I have spoken to the players, who are very embarrassed,” he said.

“The behaviour was unacceptable.

“The club will deal with this strongly.”

The affair is an unnecessary distraction from Canberra’s preparations for their opening fixture of the 2025 NRL Premiership, where they take on the New Zealand Warriors at Allegiant Stadium.

The Raiders are $2.35 underdogs across leading rugby league bookmakers, with the Warriors slated as $1.60 favourites.

NRL betting sites are not optimistic about the Raiders’ chances overall this season, pricing them at long odds of $67 to win the title.

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