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.Credit: Getty Images
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 …”
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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.
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