In the aftermath of their recent loss to Penrith, the South Sydney Rabbitohs have revealed that young winger Jaxson Paulo received death threats for dropping the ball at a critical moment near the end of the contest.
The club was forced to shut down comments on a post-game Instagram post for the first time ever as Paulo checked his social media to discover over 100 threatening and abusive messages.
Paulo’s teammates have now hit back at the trolls, having experienced it before with marquee man Latrell Mitchell, who has previously involved police after receiving hate online.
Parramatta Eels star Mitchell Moses required a police escort just over a month ago after also receiving death threats.
Club CEO Blake Solly confirmed that some of the messages Paulo received were threatening in nature.
“It’s outrageous, no player or anyone in society should be subjected to that,” Solly said.
“If Jaxson would like to take further action he has our 100 per cent support. We will work with Jaxson, his management and the relevant authorities, just as we have with other players in the past.
“Every member, fan, player and staff want to win games. I’ve never seen an NRL player not try their absolute best. For those threats to be made, it’s unacceptable.”
Paulo endured a torrid night but his coach and teammates were quick to rally around him after the fallout had been revealed. The attacks come just one week after urgent pleas for more mental health support in the wake of Paul Green’s passing.
The club’s post-game Instagram post was captioned “Full Time. We’ve turned off the comments because we’re all in this together.”
Paulo is yet to advise if he wants authorities to investigate the matter.
