Will Matt Lodge’s infamous New York crime cost him a trip to Vegas?

1 week ago 8

An infamous incident more than a decade ago may cast a cloud over Matt Lodge’s hopes of debuting for the North Queensland Cowboys in their Las Vegas season-opener next year.

Sources indicate Lodge is heading to Townsville on a one-year deal, although the Cowboys said on Tuesday that “nothing has been signed at our end”.

Matthew Lodge on the charge for Manly last season.

If the deal is done, the Cowboys will become Lodge’s eighth NRL club. As a teenager, he spent time with Penrith and Melbourne before making his first-grade debut for Wests Tigers. Stints with Brisbane, the Warriors, Roosters and Sea Eagles have followed.

His career almost ended in late 2015 after a notorious incident in New York, when the then 20-year-old was arrested at gunpoint and held in custody for several weeks after a drunken home invasion that terrorised a Manhattan family.

Originally charged with felony burglary causing injury, which carried a minimum of five years’ jail and a maximum of 25 years, Lodge’s lawyers negotiated a plea deal, accepting a misdemeanour count of reckless assault.

To avoid a one-year jail sentence, Lodge completed 200 hours of community service in Australia and agreed to abstain from alcohol and illegal drugs. He later paid more than $1 million in compensation to the victims of his crime.

The prop has since become one of the NRL’s notable redemption stories, focusing on football and raising a young family.

But it remains to be seen if that will be enough for him to gain entry into the US for the Cowboys’ round-one clash with Newcastle at Allegiant Stadium on March 1.

Before the NRL’s previous Las Vegas sojourns, a handful of high-profile players - including Reece Walsh, Latrell Mitchell, Josh Papalii and Jack Wighton - had been interviewed at the US Embassy in Sydney as part of the visa screening process.

Those players and staff from various clubs attracted scrutiny because of off-field incidents that led to arrests or court appearances in Australia.

After being stood down by the NRL, Matt Lodge resurrected his career with Brisbane.

Earlier this year, Warrington coach Sam Burgess spent three nights in an airport hotel before his visa was processed with four minutes to spare, allowing him to belatedly fly to Las Vegas for his team’s clash with Wigan.

Lodge’s case would appear more complicated because his offending occurred in the US.

SMH columnist and lawyer Darren Kane explained as much last year, quoting the US’s Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952: “Generally speaking, a foreign national who has committed a crime involving ‘moral turpitude’ is ‘inadmissible’ into the US …”

Kane said crimes that involve intentional harm, or threat of harm, to another person “traverse the line”. But he added that the line was “fuzzy”.

NRL officials have previously liaised with authorities to ensure all players selected were able to make their way to Vegas, but Lodge could prove to be their greatest challenge.

The 30-year-old’s conviction in New York has not prevented him from travelling overseas. He has posted photos on social media of trips to Europe and New Zealand with his young family.

He told podcaster James Graham last year: “I did two or three hundred hours of community service, then they offered me another year of good behaviour to wipe all travel restrictions and that, which I was happy to take.”

Lodge was unavailable for Manly’s trip to Las Vegas in 2024 because he was recovering from knee surgery.

News, results and expert analysis from the weekend of sport are sent every Monday. Sign up for our Sport newsletter.