The NRL has sanctioned Kasey Badger from officiating in any future South Sydney matches to remove a perceived conflict of interest over her husband Gavin, who was spotted working inside the Rabbitohs' coaches box as a refereeing consultant for the club.

NRL head of football, Graham Annesley, said the NRL administration was unaware Gavin, a one-time, long-standing referee, held a role with Souths where Badger assists the team train to the strict laws of rugby league during the week and on game days.

The Dhungutti and Gadigal man, is also employed by the NSWRL, the sport's state body underneath the NRL, as its community football referees development officer.

Annesley said that Kasey, who was in the NRL bunker on Saturday night for the Rabbitohs' encounter at Cronulla while Gavin was sitting next to caretaker coach Ben Hornby, will no longer referee, touch judge or review video decisions in the club's future fixtures.

"It won't happen again," Annesley said.

"We do not question Kasey's objectivity or professionalism, but we do acknowledge it's not a good look."

Fortunately for the NRL, Cronulla defeated Souths 20-6 and there was no controversial calls that tended to favour the Rabbitohs.

The problem of the unique issue between the Badgers was only brought up on Monday at an NRL senior management meeting after TV cameras spotted for the first-time the couple both working at the same match while in different roles.

That appeared ludicrous considering Gavin had been working for the club over the past two years, attending training once a week and sitting next to the coach on game days.

There is no suggestion from National Indigenous Times that either of the Badgers have done anything untoward akin to collusion in purposely favouring South Sydney.

But the NRL did suggest either one of them should have brought Gavin's role to the attention of administrators.

However in an interview with Rugby League Monthly two years ago, Gavin spelled out what working with teams would entail after the NRL did not offer the 308-game referee a new contact past the 2020 season.

"There are many facets to what I do," Badger said in 2022 before joining Souths.

"A lot of it is around creating positive interactions.

"Referees are human and they have human response to things

"There is unconscious bias in everything that everyone does."

Badger had previously worked on short-term deals at Wests Tigers, the Indigenous All Stars men's team and both the men and women's NSW Blues State of Origin sides in a number of similar communications roles before the new gig.

The NRL's decision to ban Kasey from officiating in Souths' games is the polar opposite to the decision it made when Gavin worked at the Tigers and Kasey ran the touchline.

On that occasion, Annesley defended her position as a sideline official next to then coach Michael Maguire.

"Kasey is a very capable match official with a great deal of experience," Annesley said in 2022.

"Her integrity is beyond reproach.

"What her husband does for a living has no impact on her role or duties with the NRL.

"Like anyone else in the game, people should only be judged on their performances, rather than who they are related to."

However the NRL has decided not to take any chances this time around, playing it safe as many fans were angered by the scenes at the weekend.

The perception of Kasey's bias in the rugby league community may also stem from Gavin having grown up in the Rabbitohs' heartland of Redfern, though he never has publicly outed himself as a long-term Souths fan.