Tough action is needed to deal with two time alcohol offender James Tamou

FOR the sake of rugby league's image, James Tamou must be stood down by the North Queensland Cowboys or the NRL today.

FOR the sake of rugby league's image, James Tamou must be stood down by North Queensland or the NRL today.

This is one of those tough situations where you fear the club's on-field desperation could outweigh its obligation as role models in the community.

The Cowboys need a win this week to save their season and Tamou is vitally important to that cause, but it should not be at the expense of their reputation.

Tamou should be banned by his club and one week may not be enough.

The courts can decide what further punishment he faces and I'd suggest driving almost four times over the legal limit when you don't even hold a licence is a fair case for a judge to throw the book at him.

Everyone makes mistakes and at 24 Tamou is almost certainly going to make a few more.

He was allegedly caught driving by police at 3.30am with a blood alcohol level of 0.197. For a 113kg man, that is a huge amount of alcohol.

The Cowboys don't allow players to consume alcohol until midnight the day after a game, so it is a fair assumption that he got a headstart and broke those rules too.

In 2011 Tamou and a teammate were stood down for a week for breaching the club alcohol policy. While he may have been a model citizen since, it is still his second strike.

He needs to be taught a lesson and a substantial one.

A club fine is not enough.

He pocketed $30,000 for NSW's Origin I win at ANZ Stadium and by the end of this year his rep payments alone could be $180,000.

Peter Sterling said on radio that Tamou should face a ban of "six or eight weeks" combined with community work in North Queensland.

James Tamou

Being forced to watch from the sidelines as his mates try to salvage the season is the punishment that stings.

Knowing he let the team down when it needed him most hurts more than losing disposable income. That punishes the club and its supporters too, but that was a minor consequence among the possible outcomes when Tamou got behind the wheel.