A furious NSW have denied one of their stars appeared in a sex tape after being blindsided by the allegations just two days out from State of Origin I.
New South Wales Rugby League hierarchy were seething after being forced to deal with the issue as the team touched down in Brisbane for Wednesday's series opener at Suncorp Stadium.
The video featuring two men engaged in sexual acts with a woman was sent to media outlets and leaked online on Monday in what appears to be an attempt to unsettle the Blues ahead of their Origin shield defence.
The 14-second clip is tagged with the player's name and is a recording of a film being played on another mobile phone.
NSWRL staff interviewed the player on Monday and were satisfied he did not appear in the clip.
"Whoever it is, it's a very low thing to do to anyone at any time," NSWRL chief executive David Trodden told AAP.
"To falsely accuse them of something like that is pretty ordinary behaviour."
The player at the centre of the affair was shielded from the media on Monday but has denied any involvement.
The NSWRL advised the NRL integrity unit, who are looking into the matter and could seek to interview the player.
But the NSWRL were adamant it was an open and shut case.
"The alleged player involved has advised it is not him," a NSWRL spokesman said.
The NRL was forced to deal with several sex tape scandals as part of its "summer from hell" in which the code was tarnished by a string of unsavoury headlines.
Canterbury prop Dylan Napa was fined 10 per cent of his 2019 salary after several lewd videos in which he featured found their way onto the internet.
Penrith playmaker Tyrone May has been stood down under the game's "no-fault" stand down rule after several alleged videos of him engaged in sexual acts were distributed.
He has been accused of filming and disseminating videos of him made with two different women in western Sydney and Coffs Harbour.
May was charged with two counts of recording an intimate image without consent and two counts of disseminating an image without consent.
