New Scotland head coaches Chris Chester and John Duffy will be unable to select Danny Brough and his two team-mates who were sent home from last year’s World Cup, League Express can reveal.
Scotland Rugby League chief Keith Hogg has confirmed to League Express that Brough, along with Sam Brooks and Johnathan Walker, will not be picked for this year’s European Championship.
They were sent home from the tournament ahead of their final group game with Samoa in Cairns, after being deemed too drunk to board a flight from Christchurch. And, when asked by League Express if they would be available, Hogg said: “I’m not going to avoid that; the answer is no, they will not be selected.”
Hogg, however, insisted the decision was not solely based upon their off-field misdemeanours last year, but more a need to ‘move on’ and start afresh under the tenure of Duffy and Chester, who were – as predicted by League Express – unveiled as co-head coaches on Wednesday.
“It’s not just about what happened in Christchurch, and what happened was something that was very obviously an unfortunate incident,” Hogg said.
“The people that felt worst about it was the three of them, and to their credit, they were very apologetic and they understood what happened. This isn’t a new era, but it is a moment in time and we do need to move on. That’s the conversation I’ve had with Chris and John about the make-up and age of the squad.
“There’s a wider responsibility to bring some players from Scotland through and the regulations have changed. We need to move on and involve. It isn’t just about there was an incident in Christchurch – nobody was hurt – it’s time to move on.”
Full interviews with Hogg, Chester and Duffy on the new era for Scottish rugby league will be in this coming Monday’s League Express.
