{"id":813427,"date":"2026-07-21T02:13:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T02:13:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/813427\/"},"modified":"2026-07-21T02:13:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T02:13:13","slug":"brisbane-broncos-player-josiah-karapani-pleads-guilty-to-drink-driving-charge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/813427\/","title":{"rendered":"Brisbane Broncos player Josiah Karapani pleads guilty to drink-driving charge"},"content":{"rendered":"

NRL star Josiah Karapani says he is \u201cvery sorry\u201d after he was busted drink-driving on a major Queensland motorway.<\/p>\n

The 24-year-old Brisbane Broncos winger was caught behind the wheel with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.037 on the Pacific Motorway at Macgregor, in Brisbane\u2019s south, about 7am on June 28.<\/p>\n

Karapani was on a provisional licence at the time and required to submit to a zero-level alcohol condition.<\/p>\n

The young father was also clocked driving at 119km\/h in a 100km\/h zone, driving unregistered and unlicensed and found to be driving without his P1 plates displayed. <\/p>\n

Karapani fronted Holland Park Magistrates Court on Tuesday, pleading guilty to drink driving while on a provisional licence. <\/p>\n

A Brisbane Broncos representative was also in court in support of the young player.<\/p>\n

Karapani\u2019s solicitor Abby Hawkins said the Broncos player was drinking at a friend\u2019s house the night prior and \u201cmiscalculated the limit\u201d in his decision to drive the following morning.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s fallen asleep, he\u2019s woken up and driven,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the benefit of hindsight he certainly wouldn\u2019t have driven.\u201d<\/p>\n

She added Karapani was \u201cextremely remorseful\u201d and would likely receive extracurial punishment for his conduct.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe punishment will extend beyond the courtroom today,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s reputational damage that could attach.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere will also be a punishment handed down by the NRL Integrity Unit as well as through the club.\u201d<\/p>\n

The court was told Karapani had no criminal or traffic history. <\/p>\n

However, the young winger\u2019s court appearance was only months after he was fined and handed a one-month ban from the Fortitude Valley safe night precinct following an altercation outside a venue in March. <\/p>\n

He was not officially charged for the matter and was not required to attend court. <\/p>\n

For his drink-driving, Karapani was fined $350 and disqualified from driving or holding a licence for three months.<\/p>\n

He returned to play with the Broncos in the NRL last Thursday after he was dropped by the team at the request of senior players. <\/p>\n

The New-Zealand-born star announced his intentions to play for his home country at the Rugby League World Cup later this year.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, the court was told Karapani moved to Australia as a 19-year-old, debuting his rugby league career with the Brisbane Broncos. <\/p>\n

He is contracted with the club until 2027.<\/p>\n

Originally published as Brisbane Broncos star Josiah Karapani pleads guilty to drink-driving charge<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NRL star Josiah Karapani says he is \u201cvery sorry\u201d after he was busted drink-driving on a major Queensland…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":813428,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[388346,388336,388348,388341,377709,388340,388310,89838,173223,388355,388351,388322,388301,383124,388314,388326,388303,388337,388323,388349,388350,388306,388315,377637,64,63,651,388343,388334,1108,8851,34155,388353,23817,388318,388333,388332,388331,388321,383904,388344,388327,388328,388319,388345,388339,388309,377471,386614,388324,388352,30132,761,762,185009,388347,158,383422,388325,388356,388316,17989,85,22410,388354,388329,377181,61418,388311,382205,378543,388313,388320,388330,388338,376785,388308,377486,380184,388304,388335,388307,388305,388317,315971,376539,379341,388312,388342,388302,24080,28333],"class_list":["post-813427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-s-court-appearance","tag-s-drink-driving-bust","tag-s-house","tag-s-solicitor-abby-hawkins","tag-s-south","tag-0-037","tag-119km-h","tag-89838","tag-173223","tag-a-100km-h-zone","tag-a-19-year-old","tag-a-blood-alcohol-concentration","tag-a-brisbane-broncos-representative","tag-a-friend","tag-a-licence","tag-a-major-motorway","tag-a-major-queensland-motorway","tag-a-one-month-ban","tag-a-provisional-licence","tag-a-punishment","tag-a-venue","tag-a-zero-level-alcohol-condition-the-young-father","tag-about-7am","tag-an-altercation","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-brisbane","tag-brisbane-broncos-player-josiah-karapani","tag-brisbane-broncos-star-josiah-karapani","tag-court","tag-drink","tag-drink-driving","tag-drink-driving-charge","tag-driving","tag-driving-while","tag-extracurial-punishment","tag-hindsight","tag-his-actions","tag-his-conduct","tag-his-decision","tag-his-drink-driving","tag-his-home-country","tag-his-intentions","tag-his-p1-plates","tag-his-rugby-league-career","tag-holland-park-magistrates-court","tag-june-28-karapani","tag-karapani","tag-last-thursday","tag-later-this-year-on","tag-macgregor","tag-march","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-newswire-court","tag-no-criminal-or-traffic-history","tag-nrl","tag-nrl-star","tag-nrl-star-josiah-karapani","tag-only-months","tag-reputational-damage","tag-senior-players","tag-sports","tag-support","tag-the-24-year-old-brisbane-broncos-winger","tag-the-benefit","tag-the-brisbane-broncos","tag-the-broncos","tag-the-broncos-player","tag-the-club","tag-the-court","tag-the-courtroom","tag-the-following-morning","tag-the-fortitude-valley-safe-night-precinct","tag-the-limit","tag-the-matter","tag-the-new-zealand-born-star","tag-the-night","tag-the-nrl","tag-the-nrl-integrity-unit","tag-the-pacific-motorway","tag-the-punishment","tag-the-request","tag-the-rugby-league-world-cup","tag-the-team","tag-the-time","tag-the-wheel","tag-the-young-player-karapani","tag-the-young-winger","tag-three-months-he","tag-today","tag-tuesday"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/813427","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=813427"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/813427\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/813428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=813427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=813427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=813427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}