The drunken rampage by Brisbane Broncos footballer Matthew Lodge is "horrifying", NRL gender adviser Catharine Lumby says.

"This would be among the most disturbing of cases I've ever reviewed," Ms Lumby told 7.30.

She said Lodge had not only failed to compensate the victims, he was yet to show full public atonement for his actions.

"He has not made, what I would consider, a fulsome, public statement of total contrition, and shown a deep understanding of the impact on the people involved in this," Ms Lumby said.

Lodge can't afford compensation

Matthew Lodge playing for the Wests Tigers in 2015. ( AAP: Dan Himbrechts )

Lodge, 22, was arrested at gunpoint in 2015 after a violent home invasion in New York.

He was sentenced to community service and treatment for anger and alcohol abuse in Australia, avoiding a jail time.

The victims then launched a civil lawsuit against Lodge, with the court ordering him to pay $1.6 million.

Brisbane Broncos chief executive Paul White said Lodge was not able to pay the compensation on his salary.

"Matt doesn't have a great deal of financial resources behind him at the moment," Mr White told ABC Radio Brisbane.

"He's got his first NRL contract after that two-year period.

"It's at the lower end of what most NRL players would earn, but he has tried to reach out through his manager and solicitor to the victims."

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In 2016, Lodge sent an apology letter to the New York Assistant District Attorney to pass on to the victims.

"I am deeply sorry for my actions. My conduct was unacceptable and I take full responsibility," Lodge said in the letter.

However, the victims, Joseph Cartright and his partner Ruth Fowler, deny they have received any communication from Lodge.

Sorry, this video has expired Ruth Fowler and Joseph Cartright reveal the impact Matthew Lodge's attack has had on their family.

"He has not written to us to apologise, [there's been] no communication from him in any form whether it's remorse, apology or wondering whether we're well. Nothing," Mr Cartright told 7.30.

"From our view there is no sense of remorse, [and] how can there be redemption without remorse?"

Ms Lumby said there was no excuse for him to not pay compensation to the victims.

"He has not publicly shown a plan to pay the compensation … it might take him the rest of his life to pay this off, but I think he should do it," she said.

NRL handling questioned

Broncos captain Darius Boyd said there had been no behavioural problems with Lodge at the club.

NRL gender advisor, Catharine Lumby, says the Matthew Lodge rampage is horrifying. ( ABC News )

"All I can speak about is how Lodgey has been at the club in the last 18 months, and he's been nothing but a humble, respectful guy," he said.

"At the end of the day we're here to play rugby league, that's our job and we can't focus on things that we have no control of.

"The past is the past. It is what it is."

White also said Lodge deserved a second chance.

"From where I sit, and I'm looking at the whites of that young man's eyes, I know he's contrite about what happened, I know he's remorseful for it," White said.

"I know he wants to reach out. I know he wants to resolve this whole situation."

The NRL's handling of the case, allowing Lodge to return to the NRL with the Broncos, has also been called into question.

Lodge had previously been flagged as a future Origin player, something Ms Lumby worries may have caused the NRL and Broncos to treat Lodge leniently.

"I am concerned that they might have made an exception for Lodge because he's a star player or he's got the potential to be a star player," she said.