Broncos winger stood down after string of traffic offence

Broncos winger Josiah Karapani has been stood down for this weekend’s clash with Cronulla, after being pulled over by Queensland Police for a string of traffic offences.

The Brisbane club confirmed in a statement that the 24-year-old was stopped on the Pacific Motorway at MacGregor around 7am on Sunday morning allegedly travelling 119km/h in a 100km/h zone.

He was also issued further fines for failing to display P-plates, and driving an uninsured and unregistered vehicle. Karapani was then taken to Holland Park police station for a breath test where he recorded a blood-alcohol reading of 0.037.

As a provisional license holder, Karapani is required to have a zero blood alcohol reading, and he has been issued with a notice to appear in court on July 21 for the drink-driving offence.

“I think it’s important that everyone knows that the standards and culture of this club that we’re setting [are] above any player or any person in this organisation,” Reynolds said in April.

“Everyone needs to jump on board, or you risk facing some time away from the team. It’s a culture we’ve set here over a period of time … it’s about trying to nut out those situations in the future.”

Brisbane are in the midst of a horror form slump which has led to seven-straight defeats, and need to win eight of their last nine games to have a chance of featuring in the finals.

The Karapani incident will be a frustrating distraction ahead of their battle with the Sharks on Saturday at Suncorp Stadium, with State of Origin stars Pat Carrigan, Payne Haas and Reece Walsh also to be unavailable.

Deine Mariner will be in line to replace Karapani on the flank, with Maguire confirming after Brisbane’s 24-18 defeat to the Roosters that the flyer was closing in on a return after suffering from acute compartment syndrome in his leg during their round nine loss to Sydney.

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