YESTERDAY, David Gallop ridiculed the Sydney Roosters for being "all over the shop" in relation to their alcohol policy. But if Gallop went late-night shopping at David Jones this evening, there's no guessing which department you'd find him in.

Haberdashery? White Goods? Infant Wear? God knows. Because when it comes to player discipline, the NRL finds more trouble making punishments fit their crimes than an image-conscious drama queen has squeezing herself into a pair of super slim denims.

Like the ridiculously over-sized sunglasses once favoured by Cory Worthington, the NRL's draconian stance on player discipline is now out of vogue.

Had Rooster teens Jake Friend and Sandor Earl been charged with assault when the early season crackdown was most fashionable, it's highly unlikely they would be still wearing jerseys the following weekend. On the back of suspending Brett Stewart for a month, Gallop established the new trend standing down Friend for drink driving.

With players dropping like the autumnal leaves in those heady days of March, the fact the Roosters fined Friend $10,000 - as much as any DUI player before him - didn't cut the cloth.

As a result, other clubs followed suit - jumping their trouble-makers into bans before they were pushed by the NRL. Brett Seymour was outed for two weeks. His crime? Being drunk. Jamal Idris was stood down for defending a teammate from friendly fire.

And Masada Iosefa took an enforced holiday despite pleading not guilty to assault charges - exactly the position Friend and Earl now find themselves.

Yet now the NRL is content to let them play. Go figure. I'm not suggesting last Saturday night's incident warrants any suspension in itself. But when measured by the new world order everyone thought had been created when Friend was forced out just three months ago, consistent application demands they be hooked.

Either Gallop got it wrong then - or he's getting it wrong now. He appears to concede the former, and, by allowing the pair to play while they maintain their innocence, has unstitched a fashion faux-pas that was never going to last.

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