Dragons players charged over wild brawl as injured man calls for 'severe consequences' for alleged coward punch
A man says he was coward punched, leading to serious head injuries, in a wild brawl that has seen two St George Illawarra NRL players charged.
Three Dragons players, Tim Lafai, Siliva Havili and Dunamis Lui, were partying at Wollongong’s Fever nightclub when a disagreement broke out with another group of men around 5am on Sunday.
Mr Lafai and Mr Havili were both charged with affray and offensive conduct, and are set to face court on September 6.
"It was silly, you know. It was dumb. It was really over nothing,” the victim Reed Harris said.
BREAKING: @NRL_Dragons Lafai & Havili tonight charged with array & offensive behaviour over wild weekend brawl. Face court on 6 Sep.
— Josh Massoud (@josh_massoud) July 25, 2016
"It just shows that something so dumb can turn a good night into a really bad night.
“My brother told me that I was standing on the corner and that I got blindsided, coward punched."
Mr Harris spent seven hours in hospital after he was knocked out cold.
“All I remember was blood all over me. I had no shirt on," he said.
“Just constant headaches. I can’t really move too quick. I’m still at work but it's a struggle."
Police arrived and ordered Lafai and Havili to move on, but it will be alleged the fighting resumed at a nearby 7-Eleven and the pair was arrested.
The two players were taken to Wollongong Police Station just before dawn.
Mr Harris said there needed to be consequences for the players involved.
“Maybe if it was a fair fight and it all happened one-on-one I’d just leave it as it is,” he said.
“But because it was a coward punch, I could've been dead, you know. I could have still been in a coma or something.
“So bad consequences need to be brought.”
Both the St George Illawarra Dragons and the NRL are investigating the incident.
