But Burraston acknowledged that what Williams said meant the Knights still had the job in front of them when it came to educating players, particularly their juniors, about attitudes towards women and responsible social behaviour.

The "Code of Silence" program investigated recent incidents of NRL players engaging in alcohol-fuelled group sex and alleged sexual assault.

Williams and Newcastle's under-20 players were shown attending an NRL training seminar in which former players Mark O'Neill and Nigel Vagana showed dramatisations of different examples depicting drunk women and men being sexually assaulted.

In her voice-over leading into Williams's comments, Four Corners reporter Sarah Ferguson said: "The NRL says it is making progress, but judging by the final answer from this young player on recent scandals involving group sex, they still have a long way to go."

Williams then said: "It's not during the act, it's the way you treat them after it. Most of them could have been avoided if they had put them in a cab and said thanks or that sort of thing, not just kicked her out and called her a dirty whatever. It's how you treat them afterwards that can cover a lot of that sort of stuff up."

Burraston said Williams was taking part in a group discussion and that his first three words, understood to be "As Mark [O'Neill] said", and comments at the end were not televised.

But Burraston said the Knights would not seek clarification from Four Corners because, overall, the program had shown the club in a positive light.

"It was taken out of context, from what I understand, that he was actually answering another question and there was a little bit before and little bit after that," Burraston said.

"Having said that, the comments weren't great and it certainly shows that we still have a fair bit of work to go and we will now put extra effort into our [under] 20s, 18s and 16s to make sure that people do understand the way we'd like the club to go forward.