THE Gold Coast and Melbourne have demanded a please explain from the New Zealand Rugby League after Kevin Proctor and Jesse Bromwich were embroiled in a drugs scandal while in Kiwis team camp.

The Titans and Storm will be taking the issue to the NRL after questioning whether Kiwis team management had failed to properly supervise the pair.

Melbourne prop Bromwich has stood down as Kiwis skipper and Proctor has given up his role as Gold Coast co-captain after the pair were accused of taking an illicit substance in the early hours of Saturday morning after the Test loss to Australia in Canberra.

A Canberra man is facing charges he supplied the drug to two NRL players and both Bromwich and Proctor said through their clubs on Sunday that they were too drunk to remember the incident but they could not deny the allegations.

Round 19

Neither are expected to face police charges.

Gold Coast CEO Graham Annesley was demanding answers from the NZRL after the players were allowed to stay out until 5am and accused them of not keeping the star players on a tight enough leash.

“One of the things about clubs being on representative duty is that they are employees of NRL clubs and we loan them to representative teams and we expect them to be supervised while they’re away from the club environment,” Annesley said.

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“We spend a lot of time and effort when the players are under our control that they are supervised as much as possible.

“I know it’s not possible to do 24 hours a day, seven days a week but that’s one of the issues I’ll be raising with the NRL.”

NZRL CEO Alex Hayton says his organisation was undertaking an investigation and a committee to decide if Bromwich and Proctor should face further punishment, including possibly being dropped from the World Cup squad, would meet later in the week.

Hayton says it was up to the players to take responsibility for their actions.

“Ultimately it is up to the players and I totally support the statement made by (NRL CEO Todd Greenberg) last night about the amount of education that they do through the clubs; it’s not that they don’t know,” Hayton said.

Storm CEO Dave Donaghy says his club would also be seeking answers. It’s not the first time one of the Storm’s charges has been embroiled in an off- field incident while in representative camp.

In 2014, Will Chambers was alleged to have shoved a woman to the ground during an argument in a pub while in Queensland camp.

He was subsequently cleared after a police investigation.

Last year, Cameron Munster was black-listed from the Queensland team after being one of eight players to break curfew during an Emerging Maroons camp.

“I don’t want to be seen to be excusing any individual’s actions but player behaviour when they go in to representative duties has been a challenge for our footy clubs for a little while and something we’ll raise with the NRL,” Donaghy said.

“I think it’s about those who are responsible for players taking that responsibility seriously.

“But that may well have been the case and a couple of guys that were boofheads did the wrong thing and consumed far too much alcohol.”

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