The photos of 22-year-old Iongi, which leaked on social media on February 22, show last year\u2019s NRL rookie of the year holding a pre-rolled paper in one hand while using a blue herb grinder with the other. <\/p>\n
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Other leaked imagery captures Iongi lighting up the rolled up paper in a bathtub and smoking in a dark room. <\/p>\n
Iongi lighting up and smoking unknown substance. Picture: SuppliedSource: Supplied Source Known<\/p>\n
The pictures caused a stir with the NRL, who issued Iongi a breach notice on Monday for being featured in imagery that \u201cbrought the game into disrepute\u201d. <\/p>\n
Iongi and the Eels were given 5 business days to respond. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe Parramatta Eels are aware of the breach notice issued by the NRL to Isaiah Iongi,\u201d the club said in a statement. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe will work with Isaiah to review the notice and respond accordingly as per the process.\u201d<\/p>\n
Iongi has seemingly avoided suspension over the scandal, and has even drawn allies within the NSW legislative council. <\/p>\n
Jeremy Buckingham of NSW\u2019s Legalise Cannabis Party, took aim at the NRL, Parramatta Eels and World Anti Doping Agency in an address to the legislative council.<\/p>\n
Jeremy Buckingham of NSW\u2019s Legalise Cannabis Party tells NRL to stop pearl clutching. Picture: InstagramSource: Supplied Source Known<\/p>\n
\u201cThis house calls on, one, the WADA, NRL and Parramatta Eels to stop clutching their pearls and recognise the benefits of cannabis as a legitimate and therapeutic medicine,\u201d Mr Buckingham said. <\/p>\n
\u201cTwo, condemn the sanctioning of a dedicated athlete for simply and peacefully blazing a perfectly rolled spliff in the bath in the privacy of his own home.\u201d<\/p>\n
The date the pictures of Iongi were taken is unknown. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s absolutely outrageous that this young man, who\u2019s at the top of his game \u2026 is facing sanction from the NRL\u2019s integrity unit for having been outed without his consent by a photo taken by another party purporting to show him smoking a \u2018suspicious substance\u2019,\u201d Buckingham said.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow maybe that \u2018suspicious substance\u2019 is little bit of a cannabis. A spliff, a joint. Maybe he got a prescription. We don\u2019t even know he\u2019s doing anything criminal.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd yet, the NRL has jumped in \u2026 and has essentially sent Parramatta a show-cause notice as to why he shouldn\u2019t be suspended for a week.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shadow sports minister Natalie Ward, meanwhile, said she had not seen the pictures and \u201cit could well have been parsley\u201d or \u201ccould well have been a herb\u201d.<\/p>\n
Iongi will take the field on Saturday when Parramatta clash with the Penrith Panthers at CommBank stadium. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A NSW MP has called on the NRL in state parliament to \u201cstop clutching their pearls\u201d over the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":567996,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,279369,36986,279373,279370,279368,279374,279378,23235,4601,761,762,158,279377,279371,4598,279372,85,251598,279376,279375],"class_list":["post-567995","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-blue-herb-grinder","tag-breach-notice","tag-controversial-photos","tag-dark-room","tag-ennis-foz","tag-jeremy-buckingham","tag-leaked-imagery-captures","tag-legislative-council","tag-manly-sea-eagles","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-p-euan-kennedy","tag-parramatta-eels-and-world-anti-doping-agency","tag-penrith-panthers","tag-smoking-unknown-substance","tag-sports","tag-stunning-rant","tag-therapeutic-medicine","tag-unknown-substance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567995","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=567995"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567995\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/567996"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=567995"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=567995"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=567995"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}