Australian Rugby League Commission chairman John Grant has described as "serious" the alleged verbal abuse of a female television reporter during the Canterbury Bulldogs' Mad Monday celebrations, indicating the player or players responsible are likely to face sanction.

Grant, the game's highest official in Australia, said he had been made aware of footage that depicted obscene comments being made from within Belmore Sports Ground towards a Channel Nine journalist yesterday.

"Based on what I've heard, there is no doubt this is potentially a serious issue," he said.

"The process that we'll now go through is for the club to determine what actually happened, for the club to prepare their own report with their own recommendation. That will then come to us and we'll have a conversation with them about it."