21 Feb 2015

Two Titans also facing cocaine charges

4:39 pm on 21 February 2015

Code-hopping rugby union player Karmichael Hunt is facing charges of supplying cocaine, along with Gold Coast NRL footballers Beau Falloon and Jamie Dowling.

Hunt, 28, a former NRL and AFL player, is due to appear in court with Falloon, Dowling and an as yet unnamed woman on March 5.

His three-code sporting career could be over if he is found guilty of the charges.

The Queensland Reds issued a statement on Friday evening confirming Hunt would be stood down from the side's Super Rugby match against the Western Force at Suncorp Stadium on Saturday.

It plunges the Reds into further crisis following their 47-3 thrashing by the Brumbies last Friday.

The club is still looking for a major sponsor and has now been kicked out of their training base at Gold Coast's prestigious Southport School.

Titans chief executive Graham Annesley confirmed Falloon and Dowling had both been stood down following their arrests and that the club would no longer be training at the exclusive private school where they had only moved to in September following the departure from their Robina base.

"The board and management of the club acknowledges that under these circumstances it is not appropriate for the team's training facilities to be based in an education facility among impressionable young people," Annesley said.

"As such we will make immediate plans to relocate to an alternate venue.

"We unreservedly apologise to the school, our members, sponsors, corporate partners, and other stakeholders who have been let down or impacted by these unexpected and unacceptable developments."

Falloon is the reigning Titans NRL player of the year while young star Dowling, 24, was on the comeback trail after a knee injury sidelined him for the entire 2014 campaign.

The Queensland Crime and Corruption Commission released a statement on Friday morning saying it had charged three men and a woman as part of an investigation into a cocaine trafficking syndicate in southeast Queensland.

The arrests come less than two months after former international rugby league player Jason Smith and ex-North Sydney and Wests Tigers fullback Matt Seers were charged with supplying drugs in separate arrests.

It's unknown at this stage if all the arrests are linked.