KEY POINTS:
Regardless of whether Sean Long's hasty retreat to England is about the pint, or the punt, it has effectively put the kibosh on any hopes Great Britain had of making the Tri-Nations grand final. The departure of the St Helens superstar has also exposed the ugly Achilles heel
of league in the Northern Hemisphere.
There has been speculation in the Aussie media about the reasons for Long's surprise see-you-later. Most focused on a booze-related issue during the flight to Sydney after the Kiwis had put the cleaners through his team last Saturday.
There was also talk of betting irregularities, an issue that has plagued Long. Throw into the mix a heavily pregnant girlfriend at home and the formula for disaster was well and truly complete.
But I suspect the real reason has more to do with an underlying unhealthy culture in the British game. Since the Lions' arrival in Australia rumours have been circulating that Long and others were unhappy with coach Brian Noble's selection policies. I'll bet Noble has had a player power issue on his hands.
I'm a fan of the Super League but I'm disappointed they have never properly sorted out the tin god mentality of so many players. Star players are put on a pedestal in Britain and can wield more power than the coach. Often players are more interested in looking after their clubmates than the international team.
Long's dissatisfaction with Noble's style has more than likely come to the surface following their hammering last Saturday. No doubt they had felt bullet-proof after the win over the Kangaroos.
Absolute and total commitment to the team is critical at this level and it is something Kiwis coach Brian McClennan has recognised and developed in his squad.
Making the team is one thing, becoming a team is another. Unlike the Kiwis, the Poms seem to have missed that point. It all reminds me of a player I coached at Wigan. Andy Gregory was the Great Britain and Wigan halfback. Like Long, he was a brilliant player and a match-winner. Sometimes he thought he was the boss off the field. As long as things were done his way he was happy - and that sounds very much like Long.
Call me old fashioned, but I saw Gregory as a disruption to the team so I dropped him. Many saw this as crazy, because he was one of our best players. But after six weeks on the sideline, he began to see things my way.
I was fortunate we kept winning without him. If we had started to lose I think the board would have sided with the player and I would have been shown the door.
My action set the benchmark for what I expected from all the players, with no exceptions.
Until this problem is sorted, Great Britain will continue to have problems.
When I moved to Manly, one of the first things that struck me was the different attitude of the Aussies.
Long's departure will have Kiwi fans over the moon because the whole saga has gone very close to guaranteeing a Kiwi-Australia final. The Aussies can't afford to take any chances, though, and need to be at their best.
They have struggled and are lucky to have four points. Ricky Stuart and his team have been bashed by their media, and I've no doubt they will respond.
Meanwhile, McClennan has taken some enormous pressure in his stride and managed to get the Kiwis playing as well as any New Zealand team I can remember.
He is the stand-out international coach of the moment and his results are based on a simple formula of getting the players to not only play for their jersey and country, but to have a fierce desire to play for him.
One of the things that has impressed me is the way the more experienced players in the Kiwi side are producing their best form.
Players near the end of their careers can be excused for feeling the pace but somehow Bluey has managed to extract peak form from his elder statesmen.
I can see a Kiwi dynasty starting and, despite any off-field problems, league is in a very strong position to challenge rugby in this country as the preferred television product.
Thirty years ago it was unthinkable that an Australian Rules club could challenge the dominance of league in Brisbane and Sydney. These two cities have always been league bastions with any other winter code a distant place behind.
But shrewd management and visionary thinking from AFL officials has put the Sydney Swans and the Brisbane Lions at the forefront of winter sports. They are now the biggest threat to league's popularity. Every man and his dog will say that will never happen because rugby is New Zealand. That is the same mindset the AFL challenged with success in Australia.
Bluey has put beyond doubt the question of whether New Zealand has the playing depth internationally, and it will grow.
Let's not forget New Zealand's two current superstars, Sonny Bill Williams and Benji Marshall have played no part in this series.
Whatever happens over the next two weeks will not alter the fact that New Zealand has a crop of players available for the next 10 years, which, given the right support, will be as good as any this country has produced.
And with the judicious weeding-out done by McLennan in the past two years there's little likelihood of a Sean Long-type scenario on this coach's watch.
