Before dawn on a Saturday in May last year, police in Canberra identified a group of men on CCTV.
Two of them had played in the Anzac rugby league Test the previous night.
They were then New Zealand captain Jesse Bromwich and fellow Kiwi international Kevin Proctor. After losing the game they were now doing lines of cocaine outside a city nightclub, just hours after playing for their country.
"They're both really, you know, really top-quality players," Adrian Crowther, who partied with the footballers that night, said.
Mr Crowther was a big fan of Bromwich's club Melbourne Storm.
He had been to the Test that night and bought the players drinks as a sign of his appreciation.
One of the players' entourage asked Mr Crowther if he had any cocaine. It did not take long for him to get his hands on some.
"Let's do this," Mr Crowther told the men.
"I just wanted to get on it with these guys," Mr Crowther told 7.30.
"I thought it was just a great opportunity to carry on drinking with them."
CCTV footage obtained by 7.30 shows the group outside the nightclub joking, play-fighting and snorting lines of cocaine off Mr Crowther's phone.
"They had some lines and we just stood around chatting," Mr Crowther said.
"They were real drunk.
"I remember Jesse swaying 'cause he's such a big man."
According to a statement of facts, police observed Bromwich and Proctor on CCTV consuming a white powder that was later tested and found to be cocaine.
Under ACT law, the possession and supply of drugs such as cocaine is illegal, but using it is not an offence.
When police arrived, neither player was searched or arrested. Mr Crowther said the officers shook hands with the players and then left.
But Mr Crowther was taken to the city watch house.
He was charged with cocaine and MDMA possession. He was later convicted and fined $5,250.
The players were suspended and fined by their clubs, but Mr Crowther said he did not think it was fair they walked free.
"I thought it was wrong," he said.
