As NRL CEO Dave Smith prepared to launch the new season he implored fans to keep things in perspective.

Just a week out from the season kick-off between Brisbane and South Sydney at Suncorp Stadium the code is again battling an image problem with five Gold Coast players stood down following a cocaine scandal.

In years gone past player misbehaviour has cast a pall over the season launch.

In 2011, the NRL was forced to pull its commercial after `face of the game’ Brett Stewart was suspended for a drunken episode at a Manly club function.

The poster boy curse struck again two years later when Ben Barba was given a club suspension for behavioural issues, forcing the NRL to cut him out of its ad campaign.

The NRL has moved swiftly to mop up the Titans’ mess, taking over ownership of the club after it went into administration and assuring fans it remained committed to the Gold Coast region.

However the spectre of the drugs investigation will loom large when the season kicks off next Thursday.

Beau Falloon and Jamie Dowling will face court just two days before the Titans’ first game while Greg Bird, Dave Taylor and Kalifa Faifai Loa will do so six days later.

The Queensland Crime and Corruption Commission has also flagged further charges against former and present athletes in the coming week, prompting some bookmakers to suspend betting on Brisbane’s round one match.

However Smith did his best to insist everything was rosy at NRL headquarters.

He echoed the words of Robbie Williams’ `Let Me Entertain You’, the theme song of this year’s NRL ad campaign, and insisted that the overwhelming mood in league land was excitement that footy is back.

“We’ve got to keep it in perspective up on the Gold Coast,” he said.

“We have 1000 players that pull on an NRL jersey in one way shape or form and we’re talking about a handful of players that have been charged.

“The real perspective is the season starts next Thursday and I’m excited by that, everybody’s excited by that. How can you not be excited by that?”

Gold Coast outside back William Zillman was given the unenviable task of representing the club at the season launch and was resolute, under an avalanche of questions about the club’s culture and whether the Titans would be competitive this year.

“I wouldn’t say it’s been the hardest week, but it’s been a tough week,” he said.

“But the players will stick together and get ready for round one.”