'Poor KP, he's not the world's worst person': Titans coach weighs in on Proctor's vape axing
Gold Coast coach Justin Holbrook has dismissed the suggestion his struggling NRL club has a poor off-field culture but admits Kevin Proctor’s halftime vape was a bad look.
The Titans immediately cut all ties with Proctor on Monday after a now-deleted Instagram story on the forward’s own page showed the veteran vaping during his team’s loss to Canterbury at CommBank Stadium.
The video was uploaded with the caption “not the halftime vape”, with Proctor inhaling and then shaking his head with the Titans down 26-10 at the time.
It’s a sad end to Proctor’s troubled stint at the Titans, whom he joined in 2017 as a big-name signing after a successful spell with Melbourne.
Proctor was axed as the club co-captain less than a year later after a cocaine scandal while in a New Zealand Test camp in Canberra, and received a four-game ban in 2020 for biting former Kiwis teammate Shaun Johnson.
Off-contract at season’s end, the 33-year-old was already set to depart the Titans but that decision was brought forward in the wake of the video emerging.
“Poor KP, he’s not the world’s worst person. He’s a decent guy but it’s just a really dumb thing and gave us no choice but to obviously finish him up,” Holbrook said.
Last weekend’s loss to the Bulldogs was the Titans’ eighth in a row, with only for-and-against keeping the club ahead of Wests Tigers and off the bottom of the ladder.
Holbrook said that situation only exacerbated the unacceptable aspect of Proctor’s actions.
“It’s a terrible look given where we sit the table,” Holbrook said.
“People at every club are going to make poor decisions but it highlights the fact when you’re not having a good year, that’s for sure. It’s not good.”
Proctor’s indiscretion, given his status as a senior player within the squad, has raised concerns about the club’s culture but Holbrook was adamant this was an isolated incident and not reflective of a wider issue.
“You’ve got to react as quick as you can to a bad situation and put a stop to it and that’s what we’ve done but as an overall club … the nucleus of this side is really committed to the club doing well,” he said.
“No-one’s happy where we’re sitting and an unfortunate action like that, as I said, highlights it and doesn’t do us any favours, that’s for sure.”
Holbrook said he hadn’t spoken to Proctor yet but would be remind players of their off-field responsibilities.
“I didn’t have everyone here at once today, but yeah, everyone knows what’s expected of them,” he said.
“You’re going to get more scrutinised … a good example, if you’re seen laughing and that where we sit, we look disrespectful.
“If Penrith do it, it’s funny because they’re winning and that’s fact.
“So we’re going to accept that and be a little more careful on how we conduct ourselves.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Can’t wait for the article that talks about misogyny in Ireland. Somehow.
11 Go to commentsI would like to see a rule change, when the attacking team is held up over the try line, by allowing the defensive team to restart a goal line drop out releases the pressure for the defensive team, but what if the attacking team had to restart a tap 5m out from the defensive team it gives the attacking team to apply more pressure, there are endless options for the attacking side and it will keep the fans in suspence.
2 Go to commentsLess modern South African males predictably triggered.
11 Go to commentsMy heart is with Quins, but the head is convinced Toulouse have too much. Ntamack is back, his timing and wisdom has been missed.
1 Go to commentsWow, what a starting line up for the Sharks) Tasty up front,kremer vs Tshituka or venter …fiery ,,Lavannini ,,will he knobble etzebeth? Biggest game for belleau?
1 Go to commentsIt was rubbish to watch, Blues weren’t even present. Did what they had to do, nothing more. Should be better next week against canes.
1 Go to commentsI’ve just noticed that this match has an all-French refereeing team. Surely a game like this ought to have a neutral ref? Although looking at the BBC preview of the Saints game, Raynal is also down as reffing that - so there may be some confusion about who is reffing what.
1 Go to commentsIf Havili can play anywhere in the back line, why not first 5. #10.
11 Go to commentsThe dressing room had already left for their summer break before they ran out in Dublin that year, and that’s on the coach. Franco Smith has undoubtedly made progress, particularly their maul, developing squad players and increasing squad depth. And against a very tight budget too. That said they were too lightweight last year and got found out against both Toulon and Munster in consecutive games. Better this season so far but they’ve developed something of a slow start habit occasionally, most notably losing at home to Northampton who played them at their own game. Play offs will ultimately show whether there has been tangible progress on last year, or not…!
2 Go to commentsAustralian Rugby has been a disaster, by not incorporating learning from previous successful campaigns. QLD Reds 2011 - Waratahs 2014. Players, coaches and administrators appoint there representatives for scheduled meetings, organisation’s agreement’s assessments and correspondence. This why a unified Rugby Union under one entity works. Every Rugby nation has taken that path. Was most difficult in the Northern hemisphere with over 100 years of club rugby before the game become professional. Took a lot of humility for those unions to eventually work together.
7 Go to commentsThough Wilson’s sacking was pretty brutal, it wasn’t just down to that Leinster game; Glasgow had a lot of 2nd half collapses that season, in the URC and Europe, and only just scraped into the playoffs. Franco Smith has definitely been an improvement, some players are delivering far more than they did under Wilson.
2 Go to commentsjesus - that front 5!
1 Go to commentsShould be an absolute cracker of a game! Will be great to see DuPont & Ntamack in tandem once again🔥
1 Go to commentsBest team ever…. To have played? These guys are still pressure chokers. Came nowhere when it counted. What a joke
81 Go to commentsMusk defends anonymous terrorism, fascism, threats against individuals and children etc etc But a Rugby club account….lock ‘em up!!!
1 Go to commentsActually the era defining moment came a few years earlier. February 2002 to be precise, when Michael D Higgins as finance minister at the time introduced his sports persons tax relief bill to the dial. As the politicians of the day stated “It seems to be another daft K Club frolic born in Kildare amongst the well-paid professional jockeys with whom the Minister plays golf” and that the scheme represented “a savage uncaring vision of Ireland and one that should be condemned”. The irfu and Leinster would be nowhere near the position they are in today without this key component of the finances.
5 Go to commentsIt is crystal clear that people who make such threats on line should be tried and imprisoned. Those with responsibility in social media companies who don’t facilitate this should be convicted. In real life, I have free speech to approach someone like Reinach and verbally threaten him. I am risking a conviction or a slap but I could do it. In the old days, If someone anonymously threatened someone by letter the police would ask and use evidence from the postal system. Unlike the Post, social media companies have complete instant and legal access to the content in social media. They make money from the data, billions. Yet, they turn a blind eye to terrorism, Nazi-ism and industrial levels of threats against individuals including their address and childrens schools being published online all from ananoymous accounts not real people. They claim free speech. Free speech for anonymous trolls/voilent thugs threatening people under false names? The fault is with the perps but also social media companies who think anonymous personas posting death threats constitutes free speech.
2 Go to commentsSo if this ain’t the best Irish team ever then who exactly is? I don’t remember any other Irish team being this good & winning a series in the Land of the Long White Cloud. Yes I may rip them often for 8 X QF RWC exits & twice not even making it to the QF, but they’re a damn good team who many think can only improve, including me!
81 Go to commentsNot a squeek out of Leinster for weeks about this match. So quiet. The first team have been quitely building for this encounter under Nienaber’s direction. All fresh, all highly motivated. They are expecting a season’s best performance from Northhampton. They will match that. They will be fresher and apparently they will have 80,000 out of the 83,000 shouting for them. I do expect Northhampton to turn up big time. Not to be missed. On a tangent it is evident how the loss of a few Premiership teams has in some respect helped other Premiership teams and England. More quality over less teams makes the teams better, which has a knock on effect on England. Not the only factor contributing to England’s rise but one of them.
5 Go to commentsOur very own monster teddy bear Ox😍💪
17 Go to comments