Doyle refused to register Packer's four-year contract with the Newcastle Knights in December after reviewing the case. That signalled a hard-line stance from the NRL against players who are deemed to have damaged league's image. Doyle, speaking exclusively with Fairfax Media, revealed the NRL may go even further. In the past, players have been sacked by clubs for off-field incidents and contract breaches, only to then be signed by rival clubs. Doyle acknowledges one mistake shouldn't end a player's NRL career. But under a new proposal, he wants to see repeat offenders put up a good-behaviour bond – potentially up to $250,000 – that would be forfeited for a repeat offence. "The players themselves . . . are the ones who choose their actions," Doyle said.

"If they go out and beat someone up or they get drunk and do something they shouldn't be doing, well, that is them who has chosen that action. That's not us. We aren't stopping them from having a career – they themselves are. "But at the same time, people make mistakes. Hopefully, people learn from their mistakes. "So, if you've got a player who has done something they shouldn't have done and got himself in trouble, first and foremost what we want to do is use our player welfare and education department and put them through some sort of program. And if they come out of the program and everything is fine, we'd certainly consider re-registering them. "But as part of that re-registration, we might say that given they've tarnished the brand of rugby league in the past, yes it's great you are rehabilitated and we are going to give you a second chance. "But of course we can't afford to have them tarnish the brand again, so we might ask for them to put up a significant amount of money as a bond that may sit there for the next year or two.

"And if they again go back off the rails and get into trouble again, there will be a significant penalty to pay. That's an idea rather than having them just say sorry again for the second time." Doyle, also the NRL's chief operating officer, says bad behaviour by players can have an adverse effect on club finances. "It's only ever the minority and if it's, say, 3 or 4 per cent [of first-graders who misbehave], we would like to get it down to 1 per cent or half a per cent," Doyle said. "If you look at the 16 NRL clubs, and I've talked to all the CEOs and the chairmen . . . their biggest challenge is continuously being financially stable. So what I keep saying to them is that what will bring them more corporate sponsors and more membership and things like that is their own individual club brand. Loading

"And if the brand of your club is bad and negative because you've got a few idiots that play for your team and you're not willing to penalise them in any way, that has a reflection on your own brand and therefore certain corporates aren't going to want to get involved with your organisation. "It would be better for us all to eliminate that from the game so that we can bring more families to matches, bring more corporate sponsors to rugby league and get more membership. That would make the whole thing better and that right there is a big part of what I do."