Do we actually care that players take drugs?

The revelations of Karmichael Hunt’s party lifestyle ironically make for very sobering reading for anyone who loves their footy club.

An outsider would be forgiven for thinking that professional football in South East Queensland was in the grip of alcohol and drug fuelled hedonism.

Reports coming out of the Gold Coast Suns say that if the players aren’t devoutly religious, they are partying hard.

While the AFL is reeling after Hunt is said to have named twelve other Gold Coast Suns players that also indulged in cocaine, the league world is buzzing about the identity of the NRL player who Hunt says provided him with the name of a dealer.

But in reality that’s the only connection this issue has to rugby league, right? Hunt hasn’t played rugby league for over five seasons.

However, when you consider that past and present Gold Coast Titans players Greg Bird, Dave Taylor, Ashley Harrison, Joe Vickery, Kalifa Faifai Loa, Beau Falloon and Jamie Dowling have all faced court charged with being involved in some way with cocaine, perhaps the problem isn’t isolated to just the one Aussie rules club.

Maybe this is the tip of the iceberg and there is another nine tenths still uncovered.

All of a sudden the odds seem a little too high that within every club – including yours – there are at least a few players who are immersed in nihilistic lifestyles fuelled by high disposable income and too much spare time. Maybe it’s more than a few. Maybe its rife within all Australian football codes and Ben Cousins and Karmichael Hunt are just the ones who have been caught.

Unfortunately it is a good bet that the problem will be worse in the NRL. While rugby union is no longer the sole preserve of private school boys from the good side of the tracks, there is still a relatively high ratio of university-educated players among their ranks who are headed to the board rooms of corporate Australia. At the end of the day players in their ranks who go too far overboard are unlikely to be kept around.

While Aussie rules has a cultural profile that includes all spectrums of Australian society – and therefore it has it’s fair share of cultural issues – rugby league primarily involves the less educated members of our society. It is first and foremost the working class sport. They are going to be more likely to have a greater number within their ranks who will push the envelope of poor behaviour further.

Make no mistake that the NRL has come a long way in getting its players into further education and training. In 2014, 220 players were enrolled in a university degree (roughly 20%), up from just 68 players that enrolled in the 2008 season.

There are the likes of David Shillington, Jason Nightingale, Ryan Hoffman, Jeremy Lattimore and Robbie Rochow who have mixed University education with first grade football.

However, they are still the exception, not the rule.

I have interacted with hundreds of NRL players over the years and have had the pleasure of knowing a number whom I’d trust to look after my family.

Unfortunately I’ve also interacted with some of the most toxic mug lairs it has ever been my misfortune to meet. Within the NRL there are many unintelligent and charmless individuals who totally lack empathy for anyone outside their sub-set and are of the opinion that because they play – or played – footy they are demi gods who should be feted by all they meet.

All too often that self opinion leads to poor behaviour. And all too often that poor behaviour ends up in the press for one reason or another: violence, causing disturbances and drugs.

But does drug taking really even matter to most fans if the players are performing well and they don’t get caught?

Ex-Gold Coast Suns Coach Guy McKenna said the revelations about Hunt were a surprise to him.

“It does surprise you because both my time at West Coast those players that were shown to be socialising a bit too much were thorough professionals from what you saw at the football club and K [armichael] was no different. He worked as hard as anyone around the football club in the gym, on the track.”

Some just go too far and break the Eleventh Commandment: Thou shalt not get caught. Or even worse – as Paul Kent wrote – when they get busted they take the ‘selfish’ path a dob in their fellow players as well.

I rate Paul Kent and think he has a lot of really good things to say about the NRL. Along with watching Peter Sterling, Matty Johns and Fletch and Hindy, I always make time to watch Kent and Ben Ikin.

However, when a good journo like Kent says that Hunt was selfish because when police asked him questions he actually answered them, it does suggest that there is a strong sector that thinks that getting caught is the actual crime and dobbing is unspeakable.

Is naming names Hunt’s biggest crime? Was his drug taking just doing the same as tens of thousands of ‘normal’ Australians do every weekend in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, the Gold Coast, Perth and Adelaide?

I reckon there is a very good chance that the answer is yes.

Now consider another Australian city: Canberra. The nation’s capital. Cold, boring and full of politicians and public servants. Apparently it also boasts the club with the worst culture in the NRL if the reports in 2013 were to be believed. But does it really?

Sure, the Raiders sacked Carney, Dugan and Ferguson for various offences and that could seem to indicate that there was something wrong at the club. Perhaps the culture was too permissive? Perhaps some bad eggs held sway?

I see it another way completely. The pervasive culture in the city of Canberra doesn’t have much tolerance for poor behaviour. It certainly has less than Sydney and Brisbane are capable of.

No city in Australia is better educated on average than Canberra. Sure there are a fair number of working class people around the place, but not in the numbers found in the big cities. The town is overwhelmingly middle class. Canberra is simply not a place that will easily tolerate boorish footy player behaviour or fete people for being footy stars like Sydney or Brisbane might.

For starters, how would most Canberrans know who the Raiders players were? Their games are rarely shown on the TV.

The bar that Todd Carney was acting appallingly at wasn’t full of people who idolised him because he was good at footy, they just saw an offensive bogan and promptly reported his behaviour.

The crowd at the music festival weren’t in awe of Blake Ferguson because he could break a tackle, they were disgusted because he was spitting on other people. He promptly got removed.

The instant Josh Dugan put a photo of himself up on Instagram with a pineapple Cruiser, any respect he may have commanded in his hometown evaporated.

Fast forward to now. While the Raiders performance against the Warriors was at times amateurish, there is no doubt that Ricky Stuart has drastically improved the playing roster in a very short period of time. Sisa Waqa, Sia Soliola, Josh Hodgson, Blake Austin and now BJ Leilua are all quality buys. One gets the feeling that Ricky is about two players away from actually having a squad that can challenge for the premiership.

But here’s the question: Can those required players abide by Canberra standards?

Leilua was sacked by the Roosters for poor behaviour, he can’t repeat that at the Raiders. James Tamou is a target for Stuart, but Jimmy would best be over his wild ways that have seen him get in a fair bit of trouble in Townsville – including a DUI conviction.

And if there is any truth to the rumours – and he says no one from Canberra has spoken to him – how would Greg Bird possibly fit into boring, suburban Canberra?

His talents may be the exact piece of the puzzle that Stuart is missing but could he possibly exist in to a world so unlike the Shire or the Gold Coast?

Whatever the case, I’d prefer to have Canberra’s cultural problems over those being endured in South East Queensland right now.