Good to hear your stance on the alcohol issue, addiction or not drink driving cannot be taken lightly.

As ive said, you cant provide evidence either way for someones thoughts (that he was being carjacked) but for reasons already stated I know how it sounds, maybe the drink was responsible for is overactive imagination.

What Are Unmarked Police Cars Used For? Unmarked cars can be used for anything from cruising an area of interest without drawing the focus onto themselves to, more commonly, enforcing traffic laws and making sure people aren't putting other driver's lives in danger with illegal actions.

Your argument for the police's actions are really grasping at straws Cokey. Zac has been caught for this not once, twice but thrice. He wont ever learn, nor change.

Roy, I know what unmarked police cars are used for, and I'm not grasping at straws for any argument. I've NOT condoned anything that happened. I'm not defending Zak in any way, and only been reporting what was said in court. Yes the police should've flashed their lights immediately in my view to defuse the situation, they didn't, hence the speed chase. If folk don't agree with me, fine, I won't lose any sleep over that.

Here's what was said in court. another report passed on from me if you understand.



Leeds Magistrates’ Court was told Hardaker, of Pontefract, had dropped a friend off after going socialising when an unmarked police car began following him.

In his mitigation, it was heard the car was following close behind leading to him fearing he may be carjacked or that the car wanted to race, leading to him increasing his speed to at least 70mph in a residential area.

The prosecutor told the court police had to drive at 88mph to keep up with Hardaker.

When police turned the lights on, it was heard Hardaker put his brakes on but due to his speed lost control of the vehicle, leading to it flipping into a roadside embankment.

Seriously how can a club support a player after that.

Give Degsey a ring and ask him.

I suggested that , should we of had the option of a top class player , that being Sailor , we may of been more inclined to serve a more harsher punishment instead of saying we would support him, coming across like he is the victim in all of this .

You don’t agree ,which is fine but the comment saying we would be worse off with out Zak is 100% true in the current climate

So if Sailor came in, Zak gets' harsher punishment?

The penny has finally dropped.

No, that is very strange thing to say LC.

He's banned for 3 years. So he won't be doing that again whilst at Leigh. Isn't it better to try and help someone. Absolutely mad and reckless what he's done and, thank god no innocent people were killed, but he will be under no illusions that he is in the last chance saloon. Another misdemeanour of any sort and he will be out. Lammy, Chester and the rest of the team will sort him out. Put it to bed and move on and Zak needs to thank his lucky stars he isn't facing a manslaughter charge and jail.

Hang on, You say that the we would be worse off without Zak is 100% true in the current climate but if Sailor came in we condemn him, and punish him? Really? I'm glad you're not running our club.

Good grief this is getting hard work.
My point was , and still remains the same, if we had a plethora of talent then it would have been a lot easier to release him.
At the moment, we don’t have that luxury.
Hope my opinion on this matter , which is purely an opinion makes sense now.

This player has been high maintenance for several seasons now.His choice of drug has cost him jobs.
Would anyone else but Lam have taken him at the stage he was at.Was the contract on a last chance basis.Are we actually better keeping him
With us he seems to have replaced a contentious drug with alcohol.Pleased to see his is seeking professional help.
Can he be trusted for the future.Will team mates consider were they safe when he was taking his turn driving.Will team mates be happy to put themselves out to get him into work.Will other team matea have lost trust including those with injury problems or who had offers to play elsewhere.Its all natural.
Our veterans will have to be better than last year in order for us to stand still.Can one of our younger payers step up will one of our backrowers be able to comvert to the backline at the required standard.Will the check book come out with change of emphasis from full back can we find someone from uk not nany about at first look.
All of these factors increase pressure on squad.Maybe we struggle to win those marginal games we did last year and the task becomes greater for eveyone.
Our performance on pitch effects our rating we have shown no improvements elsewhere.

I fully understand your point but, my approach would be different to yours, so we will have to agree to disagree on this one.

I'm glad Leigh are supporting him but if he still can't stand up straight and this was on 31st Jan how drunk was he?

Well this thread blew up quickly didn't it. I am fairly sure that no-one here condones Zak's behaviour. I am also sure that Zak himself does not condone his own behaviour. Zak has always had a troubled life. We all grew up with people like him. I am a born and bred Leyther who played for 30 years (only as a poor amateur) and there were always people around me with a massive self destruction button. We even had a name for them (wild Johnny Damage). There were always reasons for their behaviour, usually to do with upbringing, peer groups, that sort of thing. I am also aware that they weren't d**ks all the time. They were all generally solid people who had problems. I am sure Zak is no different. This kind of behaviour is, I am sure, inherent in his personality. It doesn't make him a terrible person. He will have the odd moment in his life, for all his life, where he will make enormous mistakes and I just hope he doesn't harm any other person when he makes these mistakes. For the rest of the time however, he is an exceptional rugby league player, solid professional (colleagues speak about his attitude in training, his professionalism, his will to win) and by all accounts a pretty generous person.
The Leopards hierarchy have a pretty good record in managing people with this kind of profile (Gaz Hock, Blake Ferguson etc) and I for one would much rather support a team who attempts to educate and support people with problems rather than condemn and banish them, a team who are positive in their approach rather than negative, a team who uplifts rather than moans and complains.
This allows people to grow and improve rather than regress and become bitter.
I'm with you Cokey.
Up the Leopards.

Excellent post that ML.

All good points and I empathise more than most might do that people with similar issues due to upbringing etc need supporting in appropriate ways. Where I struggle though is just how easy it would be for his actions to take the life of another person. It's a lottery that he's not in control of in that situation and had he hit someone on the numerous times he's been over the limit behind the wheel, would he still deserve to keep his job etc?

It's how Leigh have handled this that smarts for a lot of people. The press release from Leigh was too weak. It should have been far stronger and condemned the behaviour and declared it as unacceptable. They can then announce an internal disciplinary process, him being stepped down for a few weeks, concluding with him being allowed to continue with an undisclosed fine, an agreement over future behaviour etc (Which calms everything down and shows him being punished etc). Instead it's a wishy washy attempt to turn him into the victim and declaring support for him, then a slew of pictures of him laughing and joking in training on the players social media.

Lam Snr said the right things and would have been a better statement than what the club released

What do you expect from a club with no class?

A Quick Look at your post history has me putting you on ignore. Another keyboard windup merchant that seems to get a kick out of poking the bear but has little else to offer.
Bye.

VL, he's former forum member Jean Cap-something or other

Quite an effective forum troll if I do say so, if he overplays it and becomes too obvious

Thanks for the info.
I never rise but do like to let them know what I think before I put them on a personal ignore.
Love a healthy debate and differences of opinion however.