The National Rugby League has launched an investigation into the alleged racial abuse of Penrith winger Brent Naden.
Naden, a proud Wiradjuri man, crossed for the opening try in the match at Central Coast Stadium when he was yelled at by a group of eight men.
The 24-year-old informed match officials and the Panthers' coaching staff about the incident, leading Police to eject the group from the ground during the first half.
Vision of Police confronting the men was shown on the Fox Sports broadcast.
The NRL's acting CEO Andrew Abdo released a statement saying that racial abusers "will not be welcome at our games."
NSW Police confront a group of men following alleged racial abuse of Panthers winger Brent Naden Source: Fox Sports
"We have shown in the past that we will take the strongest possible action to ensure fans guilty of racial abuse are banned from attending the Telstra Premiership.
"We will work closely with NSW Police, stadium authorities and the clubs to determine the facts and take decisive action against anyone guilty of racial abuse."
At the post-match presser, Panthers coach Ivan Cleary said Naden's wellbeing was priority.
"Brent’s okay. He said it's not the first time he’s heard that in his life, but not in this forum," he said.
“I think it happened more than once. I don’t really know the exact details and there’ll need to be some sort of investigation, after that our main objective is making sure Brent is all right ... it definitely affected him, he said he was surprised that he was affected by it.
“I don’t know what that means, or whether it was something more than he’s had before.”
Penrith great and Fox League commentator Greg Alexander was scathing of the alleged perpetrators.
“These clowns should never get into an NRL game again, and their pictures should be up on every home ground to make sure they don’t enter the field.
“If it’s true, and what they said, that’s the end of those blokes. They’ve just watched their last game.”
