48 hours: Jones departs with a whinge

Anzac test, what Anzac test?

Stacey Jones may have been missing from the action in Brisbane, but he still upstaged league's test clash of the year.

Just as the Brisbane match approached, the Jones saga of confusion and conspiracy theories involving his move to France arrived, and took over.

The points include:

* Stacey hates the media, even though he's had a media-friendly ride in this country.

* Stacey gave an exclusive interview to a Sunday paper which enabled him to highlight the fact that he was upset by a rumour last year that he had an affair. Through engineering this story, Stacey brought the rumour he hated to a whole new audience.

* Stacey can't believe people would think that he wasn't playing well last year because of "off-field stuff". But the same off-field stuff looms so large in his life that it helped persuade him to quit the club altogether.

* Stacey quit the Kiwis to put everything into turning the Warriors around. But now he's quitting the Warriors before the job is even remotely done, although he says he is very happy at the club.

Excuse me.

The impression Jones gives in his Sunday "exclusive" is that he's been hounded out of town. Frankly, this makes him the least-hounded hounded person you could meet.

About the only thing that does make sense is that Jones' wife wants to live in Europe - a perfectly natural thing to do. As to whether it should remove Jones from the Warriors at this point in his career is another matter.

It's difficult to work out whether Jones is happy in Auckland or not. Maybe he can't work it out either.

What is clear is that he struggles to deal with the ups and downs of being a sports star. He does not thrive on publicity.

But his demeanour and public performance over the past week has smacked of immaturity and petulance. It is little wonder that the Warriors, with this sort of leadership, have struggled to be anything more than a hit-or-miss club.

To call a press conference to announce your departure, and then refuse to be interviewed, is as pathetic as it is funny. The fans, who pay their money and deserve some explanation at these times, deserve better.

Jones is not the first New Zealand sports star to quit in such an unsatisfactory way. There have been a few rugby players over the years who hung up the boots without paying the fans the respect they deserved - supposedly because they don't like the media. But we are less accepting of these things now.

It's such an easy out, blaming the media for just about everything. As to why Jones would have such a snitch in this area is also confusing. He's never received the sort of criticism that, say, the Justin Marshalls and Reuben Thornes have endured.

He is, in the main, adored by the masses and oft-praised. He must have an unrealistic view of what the media's job is all about.

His attitude also suggests the Warriors seek to find blame outside their walls rather than looking within. They are too vulnerable to outside distractions, and have extremely fragile egos. Intelligence is set on minimum.

Not that Jones will suffer much longer - anonymous is synonymous with league in France.

It was difficult not to think of Jones, though, during the test, as Brett Kimmorley - with his kicking - and Darren Lockyer dominated.

It was yet another disappointing Kiwi performance in a long line of them, and against a side that was hardly overpowering.

The exciting news for New Zealand league fans is that players like Sonny Bill Williams and Benji Marshall seem to have a maturity which belies their years and experience.

Unfortunately, it is hard to see any similar signs of encouragement at the Warriors, who are mired in an obsession about trying to control the media and thus public opinion.

They should save their energy. The only way they can really win that battle is to win more of the battles on the field.