The first dropped ball of the Anzac test came about 33 hours before kickoff.
Benji Marshall's no-show at the traditional captain and coach's press conference was a major gaffe. All week, rumblings of discontent about slow ticket sales have been coming from the NZRL, yet faced with a mandatory opportunity to wheel out their big marketing gun, they instead detailed vice-captain Simon Mannering for his second consecutive day of media duties.
Mannering may be a die-for-the-cause type but snappy, publicity-catching lines aren't his forte. Marshall's ability to make dramatic statements, though, is far from limited to the field of play.
One lame excuse offered by the NZRL for his no-show was that it was a counter to the Kangaroos' decision to send vice-captain Paul Gallen instead of Cameron Smith. Such childish tit-for-tat would be hilarious if it wasn't so sad. The second reason proffered was that Marshall had been subjected to a brutal media workload and needed a break. The same excuse was offered when Marshall made a late withdrawal from Maori TV's Boil Up show.
For the record, not once this week was Marshall made available to the print media as a matter of course. He did honour some individual newspaper requests, but yesterday's no-show left those relying on him to appear as part of a daily rotation of senior players without a single opportunity to speak to the national team's captain.
As a result, not one syllable from Marshall appeared in the majority of Auckland's major media outlets.
This could be viewed as a gripe from a disgruntled journalist, but the fact is the Herald isn't the least bit concerned with the size of the crowd at tonight's match and the only personal reward for writing a column like this is a barrage of hate mail for kicking a sacred cow.
The point is, as captain Marshall has a responsibility to promote the game.
Unfortunately, he has form when it comes to less-than-glorious off-field leadership. At an awards dinner on last year's Four Nations tour he reacted to a request he join Wales captain Lee Briers on the stage for a chat with a public grumble that he should have been briefed if he had been expected to do more "media". Since when does being asked to say a few words on behalf of his team and his nation to a room full of diners qualify as "media"?
Marshall no doubt faces an intolerable level of media requests and as such he picks and chooses his assignments. Fair enough, but this week's complete no-show went beyond that. That he was allowed to pull it off exposes weak leadership in and around the Kiwis team. If Marshall doesn't want to perform his core duties as captain of the Kiwis, find someone who does.