South Sydney chief executive John Lee has confirmed NRL players Aaron Gray and Dylan Walker were rushed to hospital after suffering an adverse reaction to painkilling drugs in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
The pair had taken too much prescription medicine before they were found vomiting by a mutual friend at Gray’s Sydney apartment and taken by ambulance to St Vincents Hospital.
The Rabbitohs duo were on painkilling medication after undergoing post-season surgery last week. Both remained in hospital in a stable condition.
Lee was careful not to say that the players had overdosed on painkillers.
“What we’re saying is they were prescribed a level of medication, and this is medication that’s not taken for fun,” he said. “This is medication that is taken for pain, and it is becoming clear that they took too much of that medication.
“I’m not going to use emotional words. I’m not a medical professional, to give you the right medical term. We’ll need to know what the toxicity information is at it becomes available.”
Early toxicology reports indicate there was no use of illicit drugs, while Lee also believed alcohol was not consumed on the night prior to their admission to hospital.
It had been reported that Walker had an adverse reaction to painkilling drugs Oxycodone and Tramadol, but Lee could not confirm which prescription drugs either player had taken.
“It would appear that both players were prescribed painkilling medication by their specialists, so that is still a matter that is currently ... we’re conducting our enquiries, and we hope to know more about that in the next 24 hours,” Lee said.
Souths released a statement saying the club was “keeping abreast of the situation”.
“Both players had post-season surgery last week, following the end of the club’s season, in preparation for pre-season training to commence later this year,” the statement read.
Souths’ defence of their NRL premiership title ended on 13 September with defeat to Cronulla in this year’s qualifying finals.
Walker, 20, played four games for Australia and made his NRL debut two years ago with Souths. The centre played a pivotal role in Souths’ premiership success last year.
Gray made his first grade debut this season and scored seven tries in 12 matches, earning himself a new contract at Souths.
NRL chief executive David Smith said the league’s integrity unit was aware of the situation and that investigations into the incident would be conducted if necessary, but only once the players’ welfare was assured.
“I got advised by club this morning, advised by the integrity unit this morning. All I know is two players are in hospital, I think one was quite serious overnight, but I think they’re both stable now,” he said.
“The key thing for me is the welfare of the players. Fingers crossed that that all works itself through and if we need to investigate further, then we’ll do that.
“I don’t know the specifics ... but what we know is two young men have ended up in hospital, and our priority is to make sure our thoughts are with them and they get the best care they possibly can.
“We take all of our welfare of our players very very seriously. We have a very strong policy around performance [enhancing] drugs and around illicit drugs. Everybody knows that and everybody understands the consequences.
“But that’s got nothing to do with this [morning]. The number one priority today is that we hope these two young men get better, and if there’s questions to be asked, we’ll ask them later.”
