![\"Wendell](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/https:\/\/prod.static9.net.au\/fs\/e75b3422-e2de-4dca-8f95-9e1f16e3e63f.jpeg\")
Dual-code rugby star Wendell Sailor has spent a night in custody after allegedly being found blocking traffic in the middle of a busy road in a bizarre incident. (Getty)<\/p>\nDual-code rugby star Wendell Sailor has spent a night in custody after allegedly being found blocking traffic in the middle of a busy road in a bizarre incident.<\/p>\n
The 51-year-old former Australian league and union international was arrested after police received reports of a man yelling and standing in the middle of the road in Wollongong about 11pm on Friday.<\/p>\n
He was allegedly stopping traffic near a busy intersection not far from the city centre while apparently under the influence of drugs or alcohol.<\/p>\n
Dual-code rugby star Wendell Sailor has spent a night in custody after allegedly being found blocking traffic in the middle of a busy road in a bizarre incident. (Getty)<\/p>\n
Sailor also allegedly fought officers’ attempts to move him before he was charged at Wollongong police station.<\/p>\n
He was accused of breaching bail conditions, obstructing traffic and resisting arrest, and held in custody ahead of his appearance in court on Saturday.<\/p>\n
No officers were injured in the incident, police said.<\/p>\n
The premiership-winning former NRL player appeared in handcuffs wearing a Chicago Bulls T-shirt as the weekend bail court was told he was in the process of a “difficult” separation from his wife of almost 30 years.<\/p>\n
![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/https:\/\/prod.static9.net.au\/fs\/03afc5fc-351a-4ecf-8082-d8a6997f218e.jpeg\")
Wendell Sailor in action for the Broncos in 2001. (Getty Images)<\/p>\n
He accepted he had breached existing bail conditions that prevented him from being intoxicated in public, the court was told.<\/p>\n
Acting magistrate Paul Fernon warned Sailor against obstructing police who were just doing their jobs while arresting him.<\/p>\n
“It’s a job that’s made harder when people don’t let them do their work,” he told the Queensland-born ex-winger.<\/p>\n
Sailor was on bail for alcohol-related charges stemming from an incident in Sydney’s city centre more than a year earlier when the latest arrest took place.<\/p>\n
He previously pleaded not guilty to charges of common assault, behaving in an offensive manner, refusing to leave a licensed premises and intimidation after allegedly attacking two men outside a bar in November 2024.<\/p>\n
Mr Fernon said he understood Sailor was going through a difficult family situation, but that was no excuse for breaching his undertakings.<\/p>\n
He released Sailor on conditions that included seeing a doctor within seven days and accepting any recommended treatments, as well as an undertaking that he wouldn’t be intoxicated in public.<\/p>\n
“If you breach your bail conditions, you’ll end up back in custody. That’s just what happens,” the magistrate said.<\/p>\n
“The responsibility is on you … just you.”<\/p>\n
Sailor, who sat forward in his cell as he was told he would be allowed to leave, replied: “Yes sir. Thanks very much, appreciate it.”<\/p>\n
He is due to face Wollongong Local Court on December 16 on the latest charges, while a hearing has been scheduled for February over the assault allegations.<\/p>\n
Sailor was a prolific try-scorer during his 17-year rugby career, including crossing the line 13 times in 37 games for the Wallabies and earning a start in the 2003 Rugby World Cup final.<\/p>\n
He finished his 222-game NRL career in 2009 after nine seasons with the Brisbane Broncos and two seasons with the St George Illawarra Dragons.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dual-code rugby star Wendell Sailor has spent a night in custody after allegedly being found blocking traffic in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":330721,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-330720","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330720","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=330720"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330720\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/330721"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=330720"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=330720"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=330720"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}