Raiders pair fined for public fight

Canberra pair Brad Drew and Luke Davico were fined a "fairly significant" amount by their National Rugby League club following an early morning fracas in Canberra.

Drew and Davico fronted Raiders officials this morning and admitted to trading blows at Canberra Casino in the early hours of Saturday morning.

The pair had failed fitness tests on Friday, ruling them out of last night's last-gasp loss to Melbourne in Melbourne.

"We spoke to both of the players and I had the opportunity to speak to a witness who witnessed the event," Canberra chief executive Simon Hawkins said.

"There was no argument about what took place. It went for about 10 seconds.

"We took the matter pretty seriously and fined them a fairly significant amount of money."

And, given the current climate in rugby league, what were Drew and Davico thinking?

"After speaking to the players this morning, and people that witnessed the incident, we've come to the conclusion that the incident can best be described as a minor fracas between two mates," Elliott said.

"The fact that this happened in a public place has made it highly embarrassing for these players and affected the credibility of this club.

"In light of that, both players have been fined a substantial amount of money and have been served an official warning for the inappropriate manner of their conduct, in that it won't be tolerated again.

"We don't like this to happen under any circumstances, but the fact that it happened in a public arena is the reason we have taken this action.

"Both players have expressed deep regret for their actions. They have apologised to myself, the chief executive, the general manager and the president of the organisation, both individually and collectively.

Elliott said both players had also been cautioned for being out late at night while recovering from injuries.

"The fact that these players were both injured, and out at this hour of the night is also of particular concern to us," he said.

"In light of some major incidents that have occurred this year that have hurt the game, the players have been reminded that they are under the microscope and that any minor incident can become an issue."

Both Davico (ribs) and Drew (shoulder) had failed fitness tests on Friday.