Rugby League: The NZRL is still getting it wrong

Head coach David Kidwell featured in a fiery press conference on Sunday. Photo / Getty Images

The New Zealand Rugby League continues to prove itself the bumbling back-country hick cousin of the rugby league world.

You know the ones that make you cringe when you're in their company as you hear how out of place they are.

Kiwi rugby league fans are owed an apology. Actually they're owed a few after what has happened over the past few weeks.

The NZRL have failed to adequately address the discrepancies between the their version of events surrounding the disastrous Anzac Test and subsequent drugs scandal and former skipper Jesse Bromwich's version of events. Funnily enough the issue dominated the conversation when they wheeled out coach David Kidwell at the announcement of Adam Blair as replacement captain. The NZRL stance was - "we've dealt with it a now we move on" but sadly the public don't see it that way. It won't go away until it is properly addressed.

There hasn't been a decent apology from the players or the governing body in the wake of the scandal that has seen Bromwich and senior player Kevin Proctor banned from playing at the World Cup. The NZRL continues to ignore the issue publicly and won't acknowledge the not-insignificant part they played in the saga nor will they address conflicting reports about what actually took place that fateful morning - something as embarrassing as pretending Nathan Fien had a Kiwi grandmother.

One thing that I can't get my head around - why is it that the most difficult thing about the whole ordeal for Bromwich was having to front up to his Melbourne Storm captain Cameron Smith? Excuse me? The hardest thing about fronting up was speaking to the captain of the Australian side they were embarrassed by on the field a night earlier? Not admitting the mistake to coach Kidwell or having to acknowledge letting down teammates or the NZRL. Not even apologizing to the New Zealand sporting public.

According to Bromwich the hardest thing was telling his club teammate and the rival skipper of his nation's biggest threat to winning the World Cup. Unbelievable.
That says all you need to know about the situation. The players' loyalty isn't to New Zealand. They clearly don't rate playing or leading their country above what it means to play for their NRL club side. In fact Bromwich's whole public appearance last week appeared to be a carefully constructed PR exercise designed to ease the burden on his return to the Storm.

I cannot believe Bromwich can consistently thumb his nose so badly at the Kiwis - by being out and off his face at 5am following a pathetic display in the test, by being more worried about what the Storm would think about his indiscretion and finally not even getting his story straight with the NZRL once it did blow up. Whose call was it for Bromwich to miss the World Cup? Depends on who you ask.

He was the captain of the side. As a senior player he is responsible, along with team management, for setting the boundaries of what is acceptable when representing the team. Not only is there quite clearly a tolerance of poor behavior standards (there were two alcohol-related incidents in 2016 that the NZRL has done its best to cover up) but the captain was the one to stray furthest from what was acceptable.

The NZRL has conducted a review into the test week and the related controversy. Goodness knows who conducted it or how it was done. My guess, if they remain true to form, is they won't make those findings public. If the media lets up nothing will change. We won't let up - I can promise you that. Every media conference that takes place will see the issue raised again until it is satisfactorily answered. If the media doesn't continue to probe the same group of management will be left to lead the team into the World Cup at the end of the year and the same people that were dumb enough to put a guy in charge who didn't give a toss about representing the Kiwi jersey will be allowed to continue to influence team culture.

If they seriously want to fix the issues that are plaguing this team they need to do the following in the coming weeks.

•Categorically explain why Bromwich's version of events is different to the NZRL's
•Axe the team manager from this year's farcical trip
•They need to take a more hands-on approach and write guides that explicitly cover drinking, player behavior etc and steadfastly refuse to pick players that stray from that agreed path
•They need to be upfront about the big name Kiwi player that was twice disciplined for alcohol indiscretions last year while on tour
•Bring in a team manager with a proven track record at major tournaments
•Start taking seriously the responsibility of representing our country and be honest and open with us about any issues that arise

This whole episode has been a total shambles from word go. They couldn't run a decent team announcement media conference at the start. They ignored talking about the game all week leading into the match and were criticized by Aussie coach Mal Meninga. They got flogged in a weak effort on the park, acted up afterwards, got busted but couldn't even get their story straight. They can't even tell me if those two players were the only ones out that late. Kidwell has been made to front a couple of post-match media conferences and has bumbled and fumbled his way through them looking like a deer in the headlights rather than strong and decisive leader he needs to be.

It is time for action now. The NZRL board has the review and they must be strong if they want to regain any kind of credibility. If not, this topic will dominate the build-up through to the end of season World Cup.