PLEASE! Can’t you keep it in your pants, just for September?

Here’s a thought – if the Broncos prepare for a do-or-die ‘game of the season’ against Melbourne with an all day bender, finished off in, ahem, a cubicle, what headlines are we going to wake up to tomorrow morning after they’ve finished their “Mad Monday” ritual?

Will we wake up to see images of Karmichael Hunt steering clear of the cubicle, but stuck grappling or chicken-winging with Sam Thaiday in the urinal, snapped up by a keen voyeur? Will Ashton Sims explode after another punter asks him if he’s okay holding onto his own drink, or if will he drop it when the going gets tough? Will Michael Ennis still be sledging his opponents over the pool table? And then when it’s all finished and the bar manager wants to have a quick wrestle with Locky for a picture on his phone camera, before sending it off to the Daily Telegraph, how will Locky respond to the pressure without Tony Carroll there to defend him?

Last month, the Bulldogs players turned up as croissants, frogs, and all sorts of merde as a tribute to some of the delicacies that  SBW might be indulging in as he nurses himself through his first six week injury on the Toulon beaches. Will the Broncos players be dressed up as the St George Bank Dragon to farewell Bennie or will they borrow Brendan Fevola’s nightie and accessories – well, they are league players; they don’t tend to learn from their mistakes.

The league boys have ticked all the soap opera boxes in 2008 – not only have we had sexual assault allegations, glassings, assaults and drinkers, but we’ve outdone ourselves this year with our own international fugitive. It’s so exciting I almost forgot that three players almost got shot before the year even started.

However, the truth is that these guys, as the classic defence goes, are just young twenty-somethings doing what every other twenty-somethings are doing. It’s true; besides the international fugitive, getting shot at, getting investigated for sexual assault and glassing your partner bits.

Sportspeople are entitled to let off steam, enjoy themselves like any member of the public – but – fame, and that’s what sports people inevitably earn, acquires responsibility. Whether you resent it or not, it comes with the territory. And they certainly can’t act like Greg Bird and others that think rugby league players don’t have to obey the rules. 

There are so many off-the-field feel-good stories about NRL players.

But there is another percentage that are tarnishing the sport with very little sense of responsibility, or a lack of awareness of the consequences of their actions. The culture brewing at the Broncos has gone so far as to break Wayne Bennett’s heart because of the atmosphere emerging at his club. Without the influence of senior players as the NRL gets younger and younger, clubs are losing mentors and father figures. Players that play Friday night see Saturday as the chance to get on the turps for 12 hours before going out.

Getting pissed is not the problem. Drinking too much is an issue for another day. What gives most league fans the shits is that these players had the arrogance and audacity to sacrifice their finals campaign. It disrespects the fans, the coaches, the game, the former players, the centenary celebrations. It reeks of people taking their privilege for granted.

I feel sorry for some of the players – it’s true that sometimes they live in a bubble. Some scoundrels try and stage trouble to create problems. Some media love prowling around for sketchy leads on night club or social dirt.

But so often, they create their own problems. Please, it’s September. For four weeks, can’t we just watch the football?