There’s no defence for these Kiwis, on and off the field

OPINION: Bloody Kiwis. Useless on the field. Worse off it.

A common opinion since Friday night’s Anzac test, and one loudly expressed by the muscular guy in the Martinborough Hotel public bar on Saturday.

And nobody snorted, not simply due to him being the size of a standard issue league front-rower. Patrons responded with headshakes and nods. A discouraging word was not heard.

Simply put, there was no defence, just like the Kiwis in the first half on Friday.

Wasted 30-12 after trailing 30-0, in a miserable final Anzac test loss that aptly recalled the military shambles that was Gallipoli; other than both Australia and New Zealand lost on that occasion.

Wasted in Canberra after the game as well; legal TMOs putting Jesse Bromwich and Kevin Proctor on report for allegedly snorting the illicit drug cocaine.

Smashed on the field. Smashed off it.

At least it can be said the Kiwis are consistent.

High on the delights of life on Saturday morning, a day later the two Kiwis were sorry for their ‘‘poor decisions’’ and ‘‘devastated’’.

It’s not clear what poor decisions they were sorry for actually were, as Proctor was so drunk he couldn’t remember ‘‘exactly’’ what happened.

Squeezed between delight and devastation came ‘‘doh’’; the police release of CCTV footage purporting to show two men in Canberra sniffing a white substance through rolled banknotes at 5.10am on Saturday.

So, one might ask, is the ‘‘devastation’’ Proctor and Bromwich feel the result of them simultaneously being hit by a lightning bolt of realisation they had made ‘‘poor decisions’’?

Or is it more ‘‘we had a great time, but annoyingly got nabbed on CCTV, so we’d better play the devastation card’’.

Canberra man Adrian Crowther is facing charges he supplied the drug to two NRL players. Both Bromwich and Proctor have said they were too drunk to remember the incident but could not deny the allegations.

It’s a sad indictment on the state of rugby league if we are to suggest senior players in their late 20s with leadership roles at club and country need round-the-clock supervision.

Oddly, the very thing that makes great players decision ricNeither are expected to face police charges. Now comes the finger of blame. It’s the poor management and culture of the Kiwis, the players’ clubs maintain.

Or pointing back, it’s poor management by the Melbourne Storm and the Gold Coast Titans, who look after the players most of the time.

No, it’s not. It’s on Bromwich. It’s on Proctor. Senior players in their late 20s, they’ve let down the Kiwis, let down the NZRL, let down their clubs.

Bromwich is paid for his skill at locking the ball up, charging forward, denting and damaging defensive lines, not for his apparent ability to source illicit substances in his spare time.

It’s a sad indictment on the state of rugby league if we are to suggest seh on the field, can make them decision poor off it.

Top sportsmen are impulsive. In a split second the greats decide where they should be.

A kind of sporting sixth-sense tells them what they should do.

But acting on impulse is not such a good strategy in a nightclub in the early hours with several sets of alcohol on board.

Then, if someone offers an illicit drug the answer is more likely to be ‘‘yes’’ or ‘‘no’’, than ‘‘now let’s see, if I take this I could get trouble with the law, potentially ruin my career, and cause collateral damage to the NZRL and my NRL club’’.