Firstly, all eyes are on the ARL as it determines appropriate action regarding the future of the Australian coach.

The second issue is the failing credibility of media members who tried in vain to dilute this situation to ensure Mr Stuart retained his position as coach of the Kangaroos. I'll deal with this point later.

Mr Stuart should resign immediately. End of story.

It won't mean the end of his coaching career but Mr Stuart would admit he's brought great discredit upon himself and the prestigious position of Australian coach. It's an international embarrassment. He can't honestly expect to survive.

His press release on Friday both confirmed and highlighted the seriousness of this matter.

Many have seen these admissions not so much as an apology but rather an acceptance of guilt.

You'll have to ask the English referees and the New Zealand Rugby League if they received a more sincere apology.

On the surface, however, this belated attempt fell well short of the mark. The tardiness of its delivery gives the perception he is trying to save his job rather than express total remorse for his actions.

After six days of avoiding the media, Mr Stuart confirmed he was "certainly not in control of my emotions at the time and acted irresponsibly and irrationally. But that's not an excuse for my behaviour."

He described his conduct as "inappropriate and offensive".

It's one thing to lose your cool in the heat of the moment, it's entirely different to continue your tirade the next day with allegations of both verbal and physical intimidation of game officials.

Let's get serious.

If Mr Stuart doesn't resign and the ARL refuses to sack him over his bizarre behaviour, it's going to make it very difficult for the NRL to ever again discipline a coach, official or player.

Many anticipate ARL officials might blindly ignore public opinion and place personal friendships ahead of the credibility of the game.

This would place the NRL management in a terrible position.

NRL chief executive David Gallop must be seething at this prospect given the stance his administration has taken against criticism of officials, questioning the integrity of referees and unruly off-field behaviour.

Let alone the junior and country leagues around the country that take their lead from the game's major administrative body.

This is the position of Australian coach we're talking about.

If the coach of the Como under11s behaved in this manner, what do you think would happen to him?

Mr Stuart has made no attempt to deny any of the reports surrounding these incidents. That pretty much destroys the flimsy attempts earlier in the week to explain away this unacceptable conduct as a symptom of passion and love for the game.

The abuse of officials and accusations of cheating had nothing to do with Mr Stuart's love of the game.

Talkback radio has been inundated with people criticising his "un-Australian" reaction to losing; and more than 80 per cent of fans voting on a media poll demanded his immediate sacking.

The irony is that while most of us saw this World Cup final as an "unlosable" game, Stuart went out of his way to say New Zealand would be hard to beat. If he told us before the game New Zealand had to be respected, then why didn't he show respect for the Kiwis in defeat?

Which brings me to my second point concerning the failing credibility and obvious bias in reporting by certain sections of the sporting media.

Who do they think they're fooling?

Countless times over the years they've blazoned headlines demanding the sacking of individuals from various sports for myriad minor offences.

The Daily Astonisher has demanded these transgressors are punished - or at least face public humiliation.

When compared with Stuart's behaviour, the majority of these offences pale into insignificance.

But now one of their own is being slammed in the court of public opinion, the Daily Astonisher resembles the officious policeman controlling onlookers at the scene of accident, yelling out, "there's nothing going on here - everybody move on".

Talk about destroying whatever was left of their journalistic credibility.

If anyone in professional sport - official, coach or player - abused a high-ranking official on the field immediately after losing a game, put himself in a position where this venting of anger was seen live on national television and perhaps even around the world, accused the officials and the tournament referees of conspiring against their team, accused them of cheating to achieve a desired result, failed to show respect or decorum during a post-match presentation to the winning team, continued this tirade after the match, approached the game's referee the following morning in an abusive and aggressive manner, abused those who tried to subdue him, abused journalists from a rival newspaper who were only trying to do their job, showed absolutely no remorse for behaving like such a spoiled brat or even offered the mildest form of apology in the days immediately following these incidents then I'm sure we could trust the Daily Astonisher to be onto them.

After all, it has repeatedly told us players and coaches are role models with a responsibility to behave in a professional and sportsmanlike manner as an example for our youth, not to mention for sponsors who support our product and the fans who keep the game going.

Why is it now going soft on the man who has the most high-profile rugby league coaching job in the world?

What do you think the Daily Astonisher would do if a John Kosmina, Eddie Jones, John Connolly, Brian Smith or Wayne Bennett behaved like this?

Would they write fluffy little columns telling us they're great blokes and should be forgiven?

It makes you wonder.

Hell, Bennett lost his position as Australian coach because he dodged journalists at Brisbane airport when he returned home from a losing tour in England. He was slammed by the media for getting into his car and driving off without saying a word.

Maybe he would've been better served if he abused the media, branded the officials cheats and given the match referee a shoulder charge on his way out of the country.

Maybe the Daily Astonisher would've supported him as simply being passionate and a great bloke.

Actually, if I recall correctly, Bennett didn't lose his job. He resigned.

He probably realised he'd done the wrong thing and took all the pressure off the officials by making the tough decision for them.

I guess that's how a fair dinkum bloke would handle it.

We'll see what happens this week with Mr Stuart.