Four NRL agents – including one that looks after some of Super League’s biggest stars – have been handed lengthy bans for a variety of offences that could impact the future of their clients.
Nash Dawson, Chris Orr, Mario Tartak and Matt Desira will be unable to do deals on behalf of their clients for months, with the quartet handed suspensions ranging in length, but all of which are severe.
Tartak will be banned for 12 months after he, according to the NRL, “communicated with an underage player without a parent and/or legal guardian being present”. Desira is unable to work for six months after “non-reporting and dishonesty following police charges and court proceedings” which were brought against him. He has been fined $10,000.
Dawson and Orr, however, have both been suspended after an altercation between the pair at a schools championship game in 2024. It was also alleged that both failed to co-operate with the NRL’s Integrity Unit in the investigation, too.
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Orr looks after a handful of Super League’s biggest names. His website counts the likes of Leeds Rhinos star half-back Brodie Croft and Hull FC’s Cade Cust among his clients.
New Hull half-back Jake Arthur is also listed as a client, but so is his father, Leeds Rhinos coach Brad Arthur. However, the Australian confirmed late last year that he had parted company with Orr, his long-time manager, with a preference to instead conduct his own deals without representation.
Hull KR forward Jai Whitbread and St Helens back-rower Shane Wright are also listed among Orr’s clients, and Dawson manages arguably the biggest name in the game at present: Brisbane Broncos and Australia superstar Reece Walsh.
The likes of Cust and Croft are both off-contract at the end of 2026, which presents them with a problem as their manager – Orr – is unable to conduct any business during his period of suspension. That would mean they would either have to find a new agent, do their own deals or wait for Orr’s ban to end before signing a deal for 2027 and beyond.