The NRL is suffering a slew of incidents of bad judgment brought on by excessive alcohol Queensland Origin coach Mal Meninga. MAL Meninga stepped over the line on Tuesday night. No, literally. Meninga was kicked out of a licensed premises during Queensland's traditional bonding night not for being too drunk, as was suspected yesterday, but because he stepped over a line painted on the floor that was out of bounds for patrons. The question is whether the rest of us have already stepped over that line. It's a question with no easy answer as incidents continue to crash down on the NRL and the line keeps tightening over what is acceptable. A year ago Meninga being kicked out of a pub would have been a story worth no more than a few lines in a gossip column. Five years ago it would have been a celebration of Origin's tapestry - those crazy kids getting themselves battle ready for what lay ahead. But in light of recent dramas it is hard to ignore it, let alone celebrate it. A lot has changed in recent weeks, and significantly, too. Lovers of the game are being worn out defending the NRL against the non-believers as incidents pile up on top of each other. In the past six weeks there have been assault allegations against a woman levelled at an Origin player after a night of drinking. The player denies it. Another Origin player was stood down for high-range drink-driving while unlicensed. He has apologised. Another Origin player faces indecent assault allegations after getting on the drink on Sunday, the night before camp. He is yet to plead. One of the new stars of the game has been charged with wilful damage after a night drinking ended with him putting a street sign through an innocent car. The common factor in all these incidents is bad judgment brought on by excessive alcohol. Meninga, in the real world, was probably just a victim of bad luck. The Queensland coach said it was an innocent mistake. He absent-mindedly wandered into the service area at a Brisbane pub. There is no answer for how he was supposed to defend himself against such a mistake, but it is also true that it is the last thing the game needed in this climate. Hopefully it is forgotten soon, which is the best we can hope for. The good news is the incident went a long way to discovering the bravest man in Queensland. That would be the Queensland publican who, for the heinous crime of stepping over a line on the floor, kicked out the Queensland coach while he was in camp for Origin.