When police find boys hiding in cupboards and others fleeing out a side door at parties, they're usually breaking up a teenage gathering brimming with illegal booze.
But that's the exact scene that allegedly greeted officers when they arrived at NRL star Paul Vaughan's Shellharbour home about 9.45pm on Saturday.
The veteran St George Illawarra prop is set to have the remainder of his contract torn up after repeated Covid breaches, culminating in hosting a party for 12 of his fellow players which put the entire NRL season at risk.
Police received complaints from neighbours that a group of men - and some women - were breaching state imposed Covid stay-at-home orders.
As Police Commissioner Mick Fuller said at the beginning of lockdown, residents are fed up with rulebreakers and they're not afraid to dob in a neighbour.
The alleged breach occurred after St George Illawarra came from 12 points behind to beat the New Zealand Warriors in golden point on Friday night (pictured)
Jack De Belin (pictured with partner Alyce) allegedly hid under a bed when the police arrived at teammate Paul Vaughan's home on Saturday night
In total, 14 people have already been fined for attending the gathering, which was reportedly a celebratory barbecue following a nail-biting win on Friday night.
Most guests at Vaughan's party - including 12 other St George Illawarra Dragons stars - did an abysmal job at hiding from the cops.
Troubled playmaker Corey Norman reportedly legged it out the back door but forgot his car - fitted with personalised number plates - was parked out the front.
The only player who was any good at the impromptu game of hide and seek was star lock Jack de Belin, who escaped immediate punishment by allegedly hiding under a bed but handed himself in two days later at the behest of his club.
Meanwhile other players, most of them big men whose jobs require them to pummel their competition on a weekly basis, allegedly crammed themselves into cupboards and wardrobes throughout the house.
When police arrived at Paul Vaughan's house (pictured) they found some players running down the streets and others hiding in cupboards. Jack de Belin was hiding underneath a bed
Vaughan and his wife Elle couldn't hide when police knocked on their front door. The illegal gathering was hosted at their house, and the former is a known flouter of Covid regulations.
Back in August 2020, he was fined $10,000 after breaching the NRL biosecurity bubble to eat breakfast at a cafe. He was also suspended for two matches.
But on Saturday night, he encouraged most of his teammates to break the rules as well - putting his team's finals campaign and the entire NRL competition in jeopardy in the process.
The latest indiscretion will cost him his lucrative near $800,000-a-season contract, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.
The club will be looking into the legalities of letting him go and will only agree to keep him on the books if they determine it would be illegal to fire him, a source told the publication.
Jack de Belin (pictured with his fiancée Alyce Taylor and their two kids) was allegedly hiding under a bed when police attended Paul Vaughan's Saturday night barbecue. De Belin has since been fined $42,000 by the NRL
Just 24 hours before the party, the Dragons fielded a goal which secured them the round 16 win over the New Zealand Warriors, and were warned against celebrating the victory.
The club's head of football Ben Haran and coach Anthony Griffin reportedly said to the boys in the sheds after the game: 'I know you love to celebrate, I know you love to have a drink but you can't, so do the right thing.'
The players went home to their wives and girlfriends, content for a quiet night in after the evening's heroics.
Come Saturday, the mood had changed. Vaughan invited some of his teammates to his home for a barbeque in direct defiance of club orders - and the state's Covid restrictions.
There are now investigations into whether some of the player's girlfriends attended the festivities, too.
