Kidwell rushed axing of Bromwich, Proctor

David Kidwell was too rash in dumping Jesse Bromwich and Kevin Proctor out of the Kiwis’ World Cup squad, the review has found.

In the independent review of last year’s disastrous World Cup campaign, carried out by Tim Castle and Raelene Castle, it contained a section on the controversial dumping of Bromwich, who was the Kiwis’ captain, and Proctor.

Both players allegedly took cocaine in the hours after Kiwis were hammered 30-12 by Australia in Canberra following the Anzac Test.

The incident came to light the following day on Saturday, May 6 and two days later Kidwell announced they’d both miss the World Cup.

The review found Kidwell rushed his decision, but he should have got better support.

‘‘In our view David Kidwell acted in haste over the Bromwich/ Proctor incident which followed the Anzac Test,’’ the report said.

‘‘We acknowledge there is room for debate on that point, but we do think that the lack of leadership at senior management level of NZRL exposed David to intense pressure in the media (therefore publicly) where his handling of the postAnzac Test player misconduct assumed greater importance than if the proper process to be followed to deal with the players’ misconduct had been implemented.

‘‘David’s very quick decision to outlaw the players from the Kiwis without recourse to proper process seems to have reflected his view that the ‘‘culture’’ of the Kiwis had been broken.

‘‘It may have been that after due process the same decision would have been reached, but we now have no way of knowing that and from a public perspective the Kiwis were seen post a disappointing performance in the Anzac Test to be equally in disarray over player behaviour.

‘‘The head coach’s inexperience was starkly evident.

‘‘It was a very significant setback for the RLWC 17 campaign; and from which it was very difficult for the Kiwis and NZRL to recover.’’

How the Kiwis would have done if Bromwich and Proctor had played in the World Cup will never be known, but they certainly couldn’t have done any worse.

However, Tim Castle said that during his interviews with the players during the review process, this wasn’t something that Kidwell could solely blame for the poor World Cup.

‘‘We are critical to the way that incident was handled. We talk about the speed with which the decision was made,’’ he said.

‘‘That wasn’t a David Kidwell only decision. We did canvas that issue with players and as you’d expect from the proposition that they were somehow distracted from the programme.

‘‘It wasn’t easy to deal with in the broader scheme of things, but to make the link between that incident and then what happened at the sharp end of the Rugby League World Cup, was too big a jump.’’

The review is brutal reading and credit needs to be given to the NZRL for not holding anything back.

It highlights an organisation that was inept in its planning for a tournament which was supposed to revitalise the sport in this country.

However, Castle commended Kidwell for his openness in the review, even when knowing some of it would paint him in a bad light.

‘‘Across the board we found that everyone we interviewed open and candid, which was pretty essential for the integrity of our processes and outcomes,’’ Castle said.

‘‘But I have to say David was insightful from the get go into some of the issues he did not grapple with well.’’