Personally I think it's a big well done to him and Wigan for getting his life sorted out.

The press are after a story - whatever sells papers, as we have seen recently.

I thought it amusing that Murdoch was quoted as getting "angry" by all the attention.

Wigan bringing rugby league to a new low shocker!

I'm not a Wigan fan, but in this instance I think they should be applauded.

There was never this much fuss made about Ryan Hudson.

He is not a drug cheat he took cocaine so if your going to slag him of and go on a rant you need to get your facts right

drug 'cheat'?

There is a difference between performance enhancing drug use and recreational drug use.

But in either case these players need help and support, not vilification.

As you support the last club that Terry Newton played for you might have understood.

Get beat did we? Gareth has served his time, come back and forced his way back into the Wigan team by shear hard work and determination. Why should he be condemned for life because of one stupid mistake? Why should rugby league be condemned for rehabilitating players who have made mistakes? Get over it, maybe we should have left him to rot like his good mate Terry, remember what happened there?

Everyone deserves another chance.

He's taken his well. Jealous?

To be quite honest there are many drug users within the game mostly recreational. Anyone that says otherwise is kidding themselves but ignorance is bliss when supporting your boys!

I think it's terrible that players that take recreational drugs and are allowed to come back, should be life bans. Cheats.

What a strange thread.

I suppose it depends on your PERSONAL view of drugs.

FWIW I would suggest that in most cases the option to take drugs is up to you. Whether these are prescribed or not the choice is still yours whether you want to use them or not.

It is to be hoped that with all the infomation available, advice and what these drugs can do together with the risks involved , you would take the course of acton YOU think is best.

So after making a personal choice the consequences of your actions are now entirely down to you and no one else.

How is he a cheat

And your profile picture is of who???

It happens more than most think, wrong it may be but thats life and they put their careers on the line each and every time they do it but quite possibly that is the buzz of it all.

If it was a fan in the toilets at half time snorting coke, then im sure people would be quick enough to say he should be banned for a life time and we dont need people like that in our wonderful sport. Why should it be different for a player? Which in my eyes in 100x worse than a fan taking it.

How many players do you think we'd have left?

never did it in public where children were around, so it's hardly the same thing. And if it were a fan, we wouldn't be taking his livelyhood away from him, as well as taking away the only thing he's good at, which to be fair, is true with Hock, as he is made to play RL.

I get where you're coming from though.

From a Leeds fan? Really?

Bahahaahaaaaaa

Once a few examples are set, do you not think the ''rumours'' of players taking drugs would calm down?
How any players in the last 10 years have actualy been done for any sort of drug related crimes?

Hock?
Barnett?
Newton?
And David Highton are the only people i can think of, off the top of my head.

Yes the examples may calm it down a little but like anything people just get better at hiding it and with people much more knowledgable about how long drugs stay in the system they'd just do it and make sure they had enough time to get over them.

Not sure on numbers of people actually being done for drug related crimes but I know if drug tests were done after "Mad Monday" at every club we'd have enough players to fill one SL team!

I'm as happy as anyone to stick the boot into Wigan but I fail to see what they have done wrong in this case. As far as I can see they have merely employed a good rugby league player who had the temerity to score some tries.
Hock did something stupid, he served his time, let the lad play. Have we learnt nothing from the Terry Newton situation?

Must say, as a Wigan fan im quite shocked and plesantly surprised at the amount of fans on here who can see the bigger picture, that Gaz has turned his life around. There is hope for Rugby League fans afterall

Completely agree, he should be allowed to play on after what he did but he didn't serve his time...

He had a BAN that had a time scale on it, he was BANNED from all sports, training or playing yet he was allowed to return to training so that he was "up to speed in a team sport". That is wrong IMO, a ban should be a ban and it stipulated that it included training. If that means he has to come back raw and untrained then so be it.

did he need rehabilitating? it is my understanding he had a bit of charlie with some mates and got caught out. hardly smacks of regular use/life shattering addiction.
he was a naughty boy, who is only sorry because he got caught. hes not an addict, hes just fallible and fancied a bit of adventure, which happened to take the form of recreational drugs, which being honest im sure most us have tried in one form or another, thats a point i make outside of any particular moral judgements on the matter. he doesnt need 'rehabilitation' he just needs to learn his lesson. Which is dont take recreational drugs if your a professional sports man as you may well be tested. Again i make that point in the abscence of a particular moral judgement, as i will neither openly condone or condemn recreational drug taking in itself. Thats a choice for informed grown ups to make on their own.
Gareth Hock has not undergone "successful rehabilitation" hes (hopefully) just grown up and applied some common sense to his particular circumstances as a professional athlete.
the man has served his time and hopefully learned the aforementioned lesson.

As you can proberly tell im VERY anti-drugs. I dont blame Wigan for the situation, theyve been told Hocks banned for 2 years and stuck by him and are now already reaping the rewards of having a very talented player back at the busieness end of the season. My problem is with the people who issued the ban, whoever that may be (RFL?). Personnelly I believe proven drugs use, where the player in question has fully known what he has took, should equal a life time ban. I dont care if youre losing your source of income, you should have thought of that being sniffing stuff up your nose. Im sure plenty of builders of plasterers are needed in Beech Hill.