Raiders stars apologise over scuffle in Vegas hotel elevator

Raiders forwards Hudson Young and Morgan Smithies face possible club sanctions after Las Vegas hotel staff used elevator surveillance video to uncover the pair scuffling.

Australia international Young and England Test star Smithies, 26 and 24 respectively, faced a phalanx of cameras and microphones across the road from Resorts World at 8am Monday on the first game week of the NRL season to explain their dust-up last Thursday.

The incident occurred after the Raiders were allowed a night of R&R in Vegas and the players were locked out of their rooms by a hotel upgrade which also prevented them from being identified as guests and led to security ejecting them from the building.

An inflatable baseball bat was reportedly briefly mistaken for a weapon.

Before Young and Smithies fronted the travelling media, a club spokesman said that although the decision had been taken not to send them home, sanctions remained on the table when they return.

He stressed the NRL Integrity Unit had been advised immediately.

“We’re best mates - he was at mine for Christmas and our partners are travelling to America (together) at the moment,” Young said. “So there’s no issues there.

“I’m embarrassed for myself, my team-mates, the NRL and the game. I feel awful, especially for my family as well. It’s a massive thing for them coming over here and now they have to deal with this as well.”

Asked to detail the incident, Young said: “I’m not going to go into too many details but (we’ve) obviously come back after a night out on Thursday and there’s an issue with the room.

“There was a scuffle in the elevator. There was nothing in the hallways or anything like that, it was all in the elevator.

“We’ve come back as a team, as a group, and one of the boys had got a toy baseball bat from somewhere.

“I think that was mistaken for a weapon in the elevator, but it played no role.

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

"Once the club had sorted (it out) we were welcomed back and we’re really thankful to be staying here at Resorts World.

“We told the club, yes. We apologised to the players and the staff and everyone here.”

Asked why he felt he should be allowed to stay in Vegas, Young paused and then said: “I don’t really know.

“But we’ve dealt with that internally as a club. Sticky (coach Ricky Stuart) has been on the front foot.”

Before taking questions, each of the players offered apologies.

“Firstly, I just want to apologise on behalf of myself of Thursday night,” Young said.

“Obviously not good enough to the club, to the sponsors, to the members, everyone that’s travelled over here. Importantly, to the NRL as well who’ve invested so much time and effort into this game and (it’s) such a great space to be a part of, here in Vegas … a great spectacle ...

“Obviously things got a little bit out of hand on Thursday night. I’m happy to move on and look forward to Saturday.”

Smithies then added: “Me as well. I’d just like to apologise to the club, the hotel and the NRL. Obviously, it’s such an important week. Me and Huddo made a mistake which we’re sorry about, which we own.”