It's ok if the players come forward and volunteer as a group but at times like this the club has to look to the likes of Lockers, Richards and Carmont as senior players to work through it together.

IL coming in and forcing mandatory drug tests on players like I said above won’t work and won’t make things better even if the tests come back negative.

Time for the club to come together not divide and that includes the fans as well.

Kind of depends on what he spends his 2 years off doing. At best, if he looks after himself & stays in shape, he's going to need the best part of another season in the reserves getting used to playing again & working up to full match fitness/sharpness. If he doesn't keep himself in shape it will be even longer - look how long it's taking Karl Pryce to get in the team.

By that time, we may well have (you hope) replaced Hock so may not want him, and his baggage, anyway.

In all honestly hes just unlucky hes "the one" who has been caught out. There are allegedly many more out there who havent been caught but slowly but surely they will and I hope that they are looking at a certain club that have a "Saintly" name.

Everybody deserves a second chance but that does not mean what hes done is acceptable. As far as im concerned once hes served his 2 year ban the slate should be wiped clean. Until then i dont feel sorry one bit for him. He is a Pro sportsman and at the end of the day he knew damn well the consequences. I posted earlier that its about time Pro sportsmen started acting like Pros and i dont just mean drugs,im on about drinking and general behaviour off the field. IL was told about drunken behaviour ages ago and didnt seem interested. I hope this is a wake up call for him as well as id guess that Hock is not alone here.

Maybe this will be good for Hock. Maybe he will now realise how priveldged he was to be a Pro RL player. Maybe he will come back a better person. If thats the case then there is no reason he can not play for Wigan again,only he can decide if he wants to be a pro sportsman or if he wants to waste it all and go the other way.

Hocks a physical freak, he's not the biggest set lad but he has unbelievable strength and i don't honeslty think he'd need that much time to get back into the swing of things.

There would be alot of things to sort through first before he got the chance anyway.

He is going to have a positive B sample, it is extremely rare that the B sample comes back different to the original sample given.

He is going to serve his 2 years ban, and rightly so.

Wigan should during this period support Gaz, as long as he is showing genuine regret for his actions and is proactive in ensuring that it doesn't happen again, and then after the 2 years if he still wants to come back and play rugby then the club should see where they are at and whether they want him.

I would certainly not be against having him play for wigan again in two years time, as long as the management made special circumstances such as extremely regular drug tests for him, and promises made by him to the club to sort himself out.

HOPEFULLY this will have given him the kick up the ar se that he needed, and will use the two years away from the support to sort his life out [and bulk up to become a prop





Yeah, the club was in danger in '06, due to bad coaching and recruitment, today imo, it is in danger due to weak leadership, both from Noble & IL. Every week there is some kind of blunder from the club that in Maurices day would have seen RLfans and the Wigan Observers letters page explode, but some posters seem to refuse to acknowledge these things.

Perhaps my "dying on its feet" line was a little dramatic, but im sickened today at yet another gaff that is tearing another shread of pride away from the club that once truely reflected the meaning of the word proud.'"

Dave Allen is back with Oldham. Ryan Hudson is back. How many more can you name who has been banned and come back in the game. Why shouldnt they, a drink driver goes back to driving after his conviction is served etc. Cantonna came back hahahah[/i

What an awful few weeks for Wigan RL:

Beaten by Celtic.
Out the Playoff positions and dropped to 10th Spot.
Whelan going back on his word and giving the Stadium to Latics.
Hock tested positive for Cocaine.
IL / BN New Coach Saga.
Attendances dropping & failed to sell out our allocation for the Semi.

The blue half of Wigan are loving every minute of this.

Rio Ferdinhand came back for united.....................oooh hang on he only 'missed' his drugs test

After finally climbing to moral high ground I can now say in the style of Borat

'Naughty Naughty'!!!!!!



Ive had enough of shi'ite things happening at Wigan.

Lets hope his 2nd test turns out to be negative if not tough titties he will be banned and then in 2 years give him a lifeline and in the meantime help Hock get off the drugs and keep him occupied once clean from drugs and his aquaintances which would lead him astray again he needs to boot them into touch.

If the club helps him he will come back a better person for it and maybe a better player or the club could take a caveman stance and let him rot and he either goes off the rails big time never to be seen again or comes back in 2 years and signs for Wire and is class.

I am probably one of Lenagan's biggest critics; I do not think he has done a good job since arriving. However I think it is grossly unfair to lay any sort of blame at his door for the Gareth Hock situation.

One of Noble's first actions was to get shut of the alleged naughtiest boy at the club.

Hock is a plank, agreed.

We obviously have vastly different ideas of what is/isn't acceptable and what is good/bad leadership.

However, what is most true, is what you said here (again, we clearly have different views on how to get there) is key:

I think a lot of the "hang him high" people on here need to take stock:


1. Anyone can make a mistake.
2. If he is guilty he will serve the punishment
3. That should be the end of it.


One thing is certain imo, despite other silly posts to the contrary, Hock did not take the drug to increase his performance in RL. He did not "cheat", he (allegedly) took an illegal substance that his sport has deemed worthy of a 2 year ban if caught.


Let's not over-egg the situation.


Yes he was stupid,* Yes he has caused problems for himself and the club, but he should not be treated as a criminal.


The best RL player the world has ever seen also had a drug problem. It doesn't make either of them* a bad person.


* If indeed Hock is found guilty

I'm all for the scorched earth policy. In addition to Class A drug users, we currently have borderline alcoholics and worse in our squad at the moment. If it wasn't for the fact that they were blessed with Physical talent beyond the reach of the average man, some of them would already be resigned to spending every waking afternoon in Harry's Bar or the Vic. I am sick of what is going on at the moment, and unless the powers that be sort this out I really fear for our future.

Thankfully I'm old and daft enough not to lose much sleep over it any more as we lurch from one disaster to another. It's the kids I feel sorry for.

As for Hock, Thanks for nothing Gareth and welcome to the real world. good luck on income support and hopefully two years might be enough time to reflect on what a fool you have been when your 'friends' scamper back under the nearest rock.

You make a good point

Clubs look after one thing and thats themselfs if it was anybody else the would have been sacked. but being a top player GUESS WHAT !

It happens in every sport in the world

Whats Brown done?

Ahhh, so far off the mark....

Taking drugs IS NOT a mistake.

Ronnie Braithwaite..????? NOOOOOO Please tell me it's not true ....!!!!!!!!!

After the chaos this morning I've had a bit of time to think about it.

From a personal point of view, I presume Hock's actions have finally caught up with him and this may the first time that he will have openly admitted to taking drugs in front of his family which along with the public embarressment will be devastating for them all. They don't deserve the humiliation and I'm sure Gareth will be going through most of his punishment as we speak.

Forgetting about Rugby League and forgetting the impact it might have had on Wigan RL, I hope it's true that for his sake he is going to get some help and maybe some rehab and I wish him all the best with his recovery. To be honest, his future involvement with the club is irrelevant at the moment. Judging by reports, it seems as though he's admitted what he's done and he wants to do something about it.

Exactly and thats why i totally back him being banned for the 2 years.

Still i don't think that means he automatically shouldn't get a 2nd chance if he promises to sort his act out.