Bromwich: Smith ‘filthy’ when told of coke incident

Jesse Bromwich, the dumped Kiwi league captain, says he was in contact with drugs as a teenager but put that life behind him when he became a professional footballer at the Melbourne Storm.

Bromwich and teammate Kevin Proctor were axed from the Kiwis’ World Cup plans after being caught on CCTV using cocaine after the Anzac test in Canberra.

The outstanding prop told Fox NRL 360 that his wife had been “angry” and his Storm captain Cameron Smith “filthy” when he told them what had happened. Storm coach Craig Bellamy had been particularly supportive.

Bromwich said he had been very drunk and still has “no memory” of the cocaine incident. Among the lessons learnt was to “be really careful about how much alcohol you drink. Knowing your limits is very important.”

“I grew up in a pretty tough town in South Auckland and it was quite normal for me to see kids during intermediate school doing drugs, people in our league teams doing drugs, but I was never part of that crew,” Bromwich said.

“I’ve been really drunk a couple of times, tried it a handful of times as a teenager, but since I’ve moved to Melbourne it’s not part of my life.”

Titans forward Proctor is a former Storm player. Bromwich, who was suspended for two games by the Storm, said there was “definitely not” a drug culture at the club.

“The leaders are very vocal that we don’t do drugs. Craig is anti-drugs, the leadership is anti-drugs,” he said.

“Craig was one of the first people I called when I landed in Melbourne . . . he must have been disappointed but he’s shown nothing but support for me and my family.

“I’ll never forget that. I can’t thank him enough. [Smith] was on the same flight as me back to Melbourne [after the test] and I had to pull him aside and have a quick chat. He was filthy . . . he had every right to be. I’m supposed to be showing the young boys at the club what to do.

“The thing I admire about Cameron and his family is they’ve reached out to my family and offered support. I know he’s still disappointed but . . . he is trying to be supportive.

“We are still great mates, it’s not like he’s not talking to me. It’s hard for me to let him down.”

On his World Cup ban, Bromwich appeared to confirm that he intended to stand down but coach David Kidwell wanted to make the announcement. Bromwich said he accepted how others wanted to handle the situation.

The first he knew of what had happened was at 11am the morning after the test when he was called by the Kiwis’ media manager, Bromwich claimed. “He said there was CCTV footage of me doing drugs off somebody’s cell phone and . . . I felt sick because I didn’t know what had happened. I couldn’t deny it at the same time,” he said.

“At this stage I’d had about 10 missed calls from my wife and manager and my family. So the first person I called was my wife. She was angry, she wanted answers. It was a very tough phone call. My wife came in when I addressed my team mates a couple of Jesse Bromwich days after the incident. “I . . . told my side of the story, apologised to the leadership group, coaching staff, and told the players how sorry I was. It was a huge mistake, a dumb mistake ... [but] one mistake shouldn’t define who you are.”