Paul Lewis: How were the NZRL nobbled, again?

Now there's a thing - October 2004 and the Kiwis were surprised to learn that Lesley Vainikolo would not play in rugby league's Tri-Nations because of knee surgery. October 2005, and the Kiwis are surprised because Vainikolo will not play because of knee surgery.

This all looks extremely suss because the Great Britain coach, Brian Noble, is also Bradford coach, the club for whom Vainikolo plays. The clear implication is that Vainikolo - a bruising and considerable attacking player - is being removed from calculations.

Step forward, Mr Noble. Or should we say Mr Ignoble? Or even Mr Nobble? Insisting a player like Vainikolo has an op once before the Tri-Nations seems like an accident. Twice appears to be a pattern.

"I would be infuriated by any suggestion that I would do that," Noble said this week. "It's a club issue. We lost him for too many weeks this year because he didn't have the right procedures in the off-season. I always push our players to play international football for whatever country but he needed the operation."

Outrage aplenty, then. Look, Mr Nobble, maybe you are not playing games but if you don't want people pointing the finger and applying adjectives to you other than noble, it might've been best for the Kiwis' doctor to examine Vainikolo, as arranged, before he went to the surgeon. It wouldn't look quite so suspicious.

When all is said and done, the club has the power to insist on surgery and pressure the player - so Bradford being open and transparent wouldn't have altered the outcome. But New Zealand would have known Bradford/Mr Nobble was able to stand up straight and look us in the eye.

Step forward, the NZRL and the two Sels - executive chairman Sel Pearson and vice chairman Sel Bennett.

When the issue broke, the NZRL could only express their anger and say there's no defined protocol in place for such matters. I'm sorry, what? A whole 12 months on and there is no workable agreement governing such cases? Again, the clubs may not agree. Or they might agree and then ignore it anyway. But surely the NZRL, as the governing body of international rugby league in this country, has to nail matters down to the best advantage of the Kiwis rugby league team. That's what governing bodies do.

I can understand the Kiwis getting the short straw in terms of playing Australia one week and then flying off to Britain to play the next Saturday. They came third of three last time and, as such, can't expect to get the royal treatment. But they can expect their adminstrators to protect them.

International rugby league has been battling perceptions that it's a bit of a joke for some time. This is an embarrassment to all. Lesley 'Volcano' Vainikolo looks about as volcanic as a milkshake, meekly shuffling off to the doctor just because Bradford want him to, rather than exercising an opinion and reporting for test duty - even if he subsequently had to bow.

Mr Nobble then childishly decided not to release his team until the 11th hour. So Brian McClennan, not unnaturally slighted by all this, did the same thing. Sigh. Is this international sport? Or handbag heaving?

The NZRL needs to be muscling up to the Australians and the Brits and winning agreement on how clubs can rule players out. This is not easy, of course. The Australians and Brits don't want to buy into club-country squabbles and they are less affected than NZ which has more players in overseas clubs.

But surely the NZRL has to go to war over this. If clubs had a deadline and definite penalties for what Bradford has done, more respect may be offered. What about, instead of monetary penalties, docking the national side two or three points off the test score for what Bradford has pulled? It won't happen, of course, there's too much self-interest in league.

But if the NZRL don't push for that or something similar, they look as lame as Vainikolo now is after his knee op.

Stand there, NZRL. Bend over. Now cough. Now cluck like a chicken while flapping your arms.

No, if the others don't agree to a system that protects NZ - and the international game - from this kind of Bradford Bull, then we should probably pull out of the Tri-Series. Or should I say, the Try-It-On Series? We might not have as many league internationals but at least we'd have a bit of self-respect.