Flex :: Flext Text Link Event Doesn't Fire Until Clicked It Twice?

I've got a canvas within which I have a list. The renderer for this list calls upon a "Text" field, with the "link" element of this field set to a function. The "htmlText" of the field is set dynamically to a mixture of words and links. Basically the function checks to see which tag within the htmlText has been clicked and performs an event accordingly.However, you have to click the link twice for anything to happen. Whilst debugging the code I noticed that the function referenced by the "link" element isn't actually even called until the 2nd click.

<mx:Text
id="textCanvas"
width="100%"
color="0x323232"
selectable="true"
link="{lbl_link(event)}" />

I've changed the code a little bit to make it easier to follow, but the ActionScript is roughly as follows:

private function creationComplete():void {
textCanvas.htmlText = "Hello <a href='event:username'>" + username + "</a>";
}

[code]....