Off the Wall

The significant PR advantage the NRL has over the AFL when it comes to drug abuse by players is being rapidly undermined by a weak stance on the biggest challenge facing rugby league - alcohol.

And it is increasingly apparent that players, and their managers, are running the agenda when it comes to "dealing" with repeat offenders.

As a result, both the NRL, and the majority of clubs have been made to look weak and ineffective. And, as the Sydney Sunday Telegraph put it yesterday, league "is drowning in an ocean of booze".

The article detailed no less that four incidents in which NRL players were seen in public "as full as state school hat racks" in Sydney over a four day period last week. One of the game