IT WAS a day to celebrate rugby league's leadership and initiative. A day to promote cultural awareness, understanding and highlight Australian sport's first reconciliation action plan.

So what did Johnathan Thurston one of the newly-appointed indigenous rugby league advisers, do when asked a curly question about being charged with public drunkenness last Saturday? He silently turned and walked away. Thurston was happy enough to be the face of the league's broad initiative to try and close the 17-year life expectancy gap between indigenous and non-indigenous children. He said he was very proud "to be one of the six boys elected on the group" that would provide an easier pathway for indigenous kids to make it in rugby league.

But when it came to his own behaviour and the message it sent to the thousands of indigenous children who regard the code's best player as a hero, Thurston didn't want to address it. He looked uncomfortable. Thurston, 24, was arrested in Townsville last Saturday and charged with being drunk in a public place. He had been found lying partially dressed outside his apartment after neighbours complained to police about a disturbance.

It was a slightly embarrassing situation for the league's first big Centenary announcement. Certainly Thurston's misdemeanour tarnished its ground-breaking reconciliation plan, which encourages teenagers away from drinking and petrol sniffing and towards a healthier lifestyle. But Thurston didn't shy away from a political question. When asked about Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's proposed apology to the stolen generation, Thurston said: "We are all looking forward to that."

Thurston, along with the other indigenous advisers Dean Widders, Preston Campbell, Matt Bowen, Sam Thaiday and Greg Inglis, will help long-time indigenous program manager Ricky Walford, a former St George and Easts winger, and chairman William Johnstone in community consultation, cultural recognition and awareness, game development and athlete support. Thaiday said the plan would help him communicate more directly with indigenous communities and help rookie players who may have issues being away from home.

"When I came down from Townsville to play, there were some other boys with me, but they went back home and slipped through the cracks," he said. "After my first training session, I questioned whether it was what I wanted to do, too - but my mum, Julie, she is the boss, she told me she would kick my butt and send me back. So there was that pressure from my family to push along, which I am grateful for now."

Currently, 11 per cent of NRL players have indigenous heritage, as opposed to 3 per cent of the population, but Thaiday said he believed the figure could grow to more than 20 per cent.

"My position is all about helping indigenous players realise they have the potential in rugby league, not just as crowd pleasers in their community," Walford said.

This season, the league will honour an indigenous team from the past 100 years, as well as a team from current players.