Lafai and Havili were absent from Dragons training on Tuesday as the the club and NRL Integrity Unit continue investigations into two incidents in the early hours of Sunday morning.

A Port Kembla man spoke to Fairfax Media on Monday alleging he was knocked unconscious by Havili outside popular nightspot Fever. He later attended hospital to receive treatment for a head wound.

Havili and Lafai were later arrested in Crown Street about 5am after CCTV cameras allegedly captured them fighting with three men outside a 7-11, in a conflict not linked to the incident at Fever. They were subsequently charged with affray and offensive behaviour and will appear in Wollongong Local Court on September 6.

The Rugby League Players' Association stressed it does not condone player misbehaviour, but said its members needed to be treated consistently and in accordance with the game's code of conduct.

"The RLPA has offered our legal and wellbeing support to the players involved," said the RLPA's general counsel Tim Lythe.

"While we are still in the process of gathering all of the relevant information, we have concerns generally about players being stood down, effective immediately, without the proper process being followed as appears to be the case here.

"I need to emphasise that we absolutely support players being held accountable for their actions and that a process can be completed in a very short timeframe. But for the sake of fairness, consistency and integrity for all regarding how these matters are managed by the game, the agreed process must be respected.

"Provisional suspensions have their place where appropriate circumstances exist but we would be concerned if this is being used to implement disciplinary action when the criminal matters are yet to be dealt with. Standing a player down immediately has the effect of disadvantaging the player in their employment and potentially undermining the integrity of the criminal justice system, so this action needs to be warranted by the circumstances."

The union and other NRL clubs have raised concerns about players not being sanctioned consistently. Parramatta playmaker Corey Norman was allowed to continue playing after being charged with drugs possession and was only suspended for that and other off-field incidents following his court case.

There is also a feeling the Dragons have applied double standards by allowing coach Paul McGregor to continue coaching after pleading guilty to driving under the influence, while Lafai and Havili have immediately been suspended before their court case is resolved.

"The St George Illawarra Dragons have determined to stand down contracted players Siliva Havili and Tim Lafai, effective immediately and until further notice, from all club activities, for breaching the club's code of conduct," the Dragons said in a statement.

"The NRL Integrity Unit has been informed and the club has arranged counselling for both players. The matter is to be considered by the courts system and as such, the club will not be making any further comment, at this time."

Skipper Gareth Widdop was left to front the media on Tuesday and was tight-lipped on the incident, which comes amid heavy criticism of his side's on-field performance following three straight losses.

"The NRL Integrity Unit is dealing with that and that's all I can say on that at the moment," Widdop said.

"It's hard to comment because we don't know exactly what's gone on but it's not ideal. It's being investigated, the NRL are doing their best to resolve it and until then it's hard to comment.

"We don't really know what's happened yet that's the problem at the moment. There's two sides to every story.

"Things like this aren't ideal but, in terms of the playing group, there's nothing we can do about what's going on outside [the club]. Our job's to go out there and perform and we need to [because] the last few weeks have been a little bit disappointing.

"We took a step in the right direction on the weekend [against the Tigers] but we need to play for a lot longer, for 80 minutes. It's in our hands, we've got a big game on Friday and that's our focus at the moment."