League’s image hits a new low in Canberra
NEW Zealand rugby league has plunged to new depths.
A shockingly bad performance in the Anzac test on Friday night was followed by allegations that Kiwis captain Jesse Bromwich and player Kevin Proctor bought cocaine a few hours after the test in a Canberra nightclub.
The 34-2 loss at the 2013 World Cup final to Australia and subsequent revelations that players had mixed energy drinks with sleeping pills during the tournament was supposed to the lowest point.
Well, not anymore. The actions on and off the field this weekend have surpassed all that.
We were fed lines from Stephen Kearney and David Kidwell over the past four years about improvements made to the team’s culture and swallowed it all.
Whatever progress had been made was destroyed over a few short hours and it leaves the Kiwis’ World Cup plans and their public perception in tatters.
If these allegations are proven to be true, then the consequences are significant.
NRL CEO Todd Greenberg hinted the NRL’s integrity unit could throw the book at Bromwich and Proctor.
The NZRL has also said it’ll take action immediately if the allegations are correct.
It seems inconceivable that Bromwich will hang onto his role as Kiwis captain. He and Proctor could be looking at lengthy bans given out by the NRL and even if they were available to play at the World Cup, it would be a PR disaster for the NZRL to select them.
So that leaves the Kiwis, who just got walloped by the Kangaroos, remember, without their best prop and a rock solid, dependable second rower.
This alleged incident also sends out a dreadful message to Kiwis fans.
While they went to bed after a nightmare performance on Friday night, here were two players out partying and – according to Canberra police – allegedly taking illicit drugs.
It’s understandable that players need to wind down after playing in a big game, but Bromwich and Proctor, who are both 28 years old, should know better. For it to happen to the GETTY IMAGES New Zealand captain and one of the team’s most experienced players beggars belief.
Regardless of what the NRL does, the NZRL, including Kiwis coach Kidwell, needs to come out and publicly condemn both players, even if it’s at the detriment of the national team over the short term.
But in a weird way this event is also something of a blessing for the NZRL, because it’s taken the focus off just how bad the Kiwis were in the Anzac test.
Under Kidwell the Kiwis have won just one of six tests and given the gulf between them and the Kangaroos on Friday night, it would suggest that there’s no chance of New Zealand winning this year’s World Cup.
But with just five months left before the tournament begins and perhaps one warmup game to be scheduled, there’s not enough time to contemplate a coaching change.
Kidwell has to be the man to take the Kiwis into the tournament. This latest saga could even improve him as a coach. He’s still struggled to stamp his mark on the team, but a crisis where he comes down heavy on out of line individuals, could show the players who performed so appallingly that it’s his way or the highway.