So it comes as no surprise that the allegations made against a handful of Gold Coast Titans players in relation to a drug syndicate has left him shattered.

The Titans and the wider rugby league community were thrown into turmoil at the weekend when representative stars Greg Bird and Dave Taylor, lower-profile players Kalifa Faifai Loa, Beau Falloon and Jamie Dowling, fringe first grader Jamie Dowling and multi-code star Karmichael Hunt were all charged in relation to the alleged supply of cocaine.

The drama comes just a couple of weeks after it was revealed South Sydney stripped John Sutton of his captaincy due to an incident with former teammate Luke Burgess on a pre-season trip to America.

Added to a series of incidents involving the likes of Blake Ferguson and Todd Carney in recent times and the subject of player behaviour has become a serious one.

Millgate has been involved in rugby league for a long time as both a player and an administrator and said he could not believe the code he loved was proving to be its own worst enemy.

"Every time you turn around a player or two has done something wrong, and they undo the good work done by the bulk of them," Millgate said.

"These incidents become big news and the game keeps getting bashed, but it's our own people that are causing it and that is hard to cop.

"These guys are going to have their day in court to defend themselves, but if they are guilty the game needs to come down hard on them.

"I really struggle to understand why these things keep happening because there is so much education out there for players these days, particularly once kids start getting into representative squads.

"A lot of work goes into player welfare and education but some of them slip through the cracks. Unfortunately drugs are a big problem in society and that filters into rugby league as well."

Country Rugby League welfare officer Dennis Moran said ultimately the responsibility for matters such as the one engulfing the Titans fell on the individual players.

"In the end it comes down to the choices they make, and whether they are the right ones or wrong ones," Moran said.

"You can give them all the education in the world, and most of the time that education works, but sometimes they make these bad decisions and it gets them in trouble.

"We'll keep going with the work we do in education and welfare because it does work most of the time but it is disappointing when these things happen."

For Millgate, he is hopeful the damage done by recent incidents in the code can be sorted out prior to the start of the various seasons.

The NRL kicks off on Thursday week, while locally Group 11 starts on April 12 and junior league kicks off on the opening weekend of May.

"People should be talking about the start of the season or footy tipping comps, or even Souths winning the world club challenge this morning (Monday)," he said.

"We shouldn't be talking about this rubbish but hopefully it gets dealt with swiftly and properly and we can get on with focusing on the stuff we should be focusing on."