At Terrigal leading up to Origin II, the Queensland players had a night out to celebrate the birthdays of Billy Slater and Cameron Smith, and finished up in the same bar as members of the travelling media, including yours truly.
None of us witnessed anything which warranted a story, but we woke two days later to "Drunken Maroons" headlines in a local paper.
It seems a passer-by saw the players outside the bar and phoned 000 to report an incident, which the police investigated before finding nothing untoward had happened.
My love for the game hasn't stopped me writing "negative" stories when required, whether they are to do with off-field incidents, attendances, refereeing or administration.
I'm not going to defend every "journo" covering the game, or bag them either, whatever their motives or preferences when it comes to sport.
There are one or two I have met who would defect to union as quickly as Sonny Bill Williams if it looked like becoming the No. 1 sport.
I must confess to feeling uncomfortable when some scribes - very few I might add - have reacted with joy after learning of another so-called league atrocity.
It is one thing to report things faithfully and to get satisfaction from a job well done. It is another to get a high from the code's misfortune.
