He now needs the help from Stevie ward's charity or he will end up like George best and Gazza

This

Cannot agree. It’s not a tragedy. He is a plonker he is an adult in a privileged position have zero sympathy for him. I think we are over egging his talents as well. A good super league player was a very average also ran in the NRL.

Agreed. Not a tragedy in any way,shape or form. He's a daft lad who put a good night before his career and got caught.

At the moment it's just a shame, let's hope it doesn't turn into a tragedy ala Terry Newton.

This^.



None of us really know what's going on in his head, whether it's demons or idiocy. Yes he was a bit of a c0ck for us at the end, but he gave us a lot and was excellent at his peak. And as a human being surely we all have to hope he sorts himself out?

Obviously hope he sorts himself out but it’s not a tragedy. A tragedy would be if he had a career ending injury out of his control not being caught taking the old Colombian marching powder

I know a number of people have said they hope the sport gives him the help he could need.....i'm quite confident they will. The question is if he's prepared to help himself, without that the former is wasted and he's shown so far that he's not been prepared to help himself.

Zak has a choice to make, he can either view those who are able to help him as interferring which means he is likely to continue his roller coaster, or he can open up and accept the help and start the process of stabilising his life.



For his mental health and the good of the game let’s hope he chooses the latter.

Think theres a bit of over reacting going on. All his transgressions have been drinking when he shouldnt be,not showing up for work,getting into fights/attacking people and calling a ref or opposition player a derogatory name, thousands of lads his age do exactly the same, they havnt all got deep lying demons and arnt all goin to top themselves ...theyr just s. Zak being in the public eye dosnt mean that his problems are anything more sinister than all the others...He's just a stupider version of the thousands of others because his career is compromised by it.

Oh I agree I think his constant transgressions are more him being a d**khead than any demons. But losing everything like he will do now can lead to people taking extreme responses.

Got to admit I am behind what mattsrhinos has said a couple of times. People are only saying I hope he sorts his demons because we are rugby league fans and he is a fantastic rugby league player. There will be 4-500 lads out in Leeds on a weekend who do exactly the same that everyone watching on will just say what a d*ckhead. He’s shown no respect for cas their fans or more importantly his own career. I don’t go out in Leeds (Bradford lad) because I find a lot of the stuck up their own rectum people that go out in Leeds are like him and just think that them partying is all that matters.



But I think while our players can’t earn the sort of money to retire them when they finish I can’t see it changing. They put their bodies on the line in the toughest sport for the most minimal amount of money. Point I’m making is he isn’t the first and I’m damn sure there’s a hell of a lot more being covered up “out of competition”. I wonder if our salary cap wa sin line with the NRL would our players be more weary of their careers

Salary has nothing to do with it - compared to most of the idiots Hardaker hangs out with he's probably loaded. Inability to grow up has far more to do with it. Anyone who acts like Hardaker has done well into their 20s has little chance of turning things around IMO. Being an immature idiot at 18 isn't unusual and most of us get past that stage. But some sportstars get stuck in a perpetual teenage attitude which they never grow out of, probably because they don't have to. Julian O'Neill, Todd Carney, Josh Dugan in the NRL, Gazza etc etc.



Some of them eventually change when they get a big enough kick in the - like hopefully Mitchell Pearce after being publicly humiliated. But too many don't grow up until late in their careers by when their athletic skill is on the wane.



Hopefully this will cause Hardaker to change his spots. If he doesn't look after himself very well over the course of a ban he'll find coming back far harder than he could imagine, and he could easily end up never getting anywhere near his best (more like at Leeds 2016).

I wonder how he will get on in rugby union, better brush up on his french if he wants decent money!

If its a WADA ban then he won't be doing any pro sport for a long while.

And will he be welcomed back. Or booed like Justin gatlin

There is a major difference with the true drugs cheat Gatlin. He used drugs to enhance his performance & was caught more than once.

Hardaker is an immature idiot.

As long as support is offered, he's man enough to take the opportunity and see it through then fine.



As stated above, its a dicey situation when your world has fallen apart around your ears, friends become enemies and your anger turns inwards. The only person who can dig Hardaker out is his closet family and of course, himself. I for one wish him only the best in this.

If Cas wash their hands of him I wouldn't be against us offering him support and even a role at the club if he was up for it with the clear message that in no way will he be offered a playing contract at the end of his ban.



I know many would be against that and say we've tried to help him before but like it or not he's forever linked with this club for what he achieved here in the past and nothing that happens in the future changes that and he still has many good friends at the club.



They wouldn't be any risk on our part because it's not like we'd be shelling out money for him and if he still messes up it has no impact on our squad and on field hopes and if it stops him going down the path that Newton took then well worth it.

In his latter days at rhinos he was bad apple for the team once sir kev left. I cannot see us letting him come a there near the players. Don't want him to guide walker etc down the wrong road too

No sympathy for him at all, had so so many chances and help, but he just is a brainless idiot, deserves all he gets, it's not like he has shown appreciation of the support he received from the club and fans, he has shown contempt and tried to rub it in the faces of us since he went to Cas, and now has shoved it in the Cas club and fans by his own stupidity or just his own sense of infallibility.



Hope he never plays RL again.

It wouldn't have to be anything that involves being close to the players. Plus anyway he's still good friends with many regardless of whether he's at this club.

100% Agree with all of that statement.





Great post.

Definitely don’t want him back in any capacity whatsoever, the club bent over backwards to accommodate his bad behavior. In the end it became too much so he had to go. We deserved to win the grand final but Hardakers suspension left a key position weakened for cas. They were all over the place when our kicks went up .

Big decision from cas as to Hardakers future. Spoke to a few cas fans, understandably they are extremely bitter about the situation. Problem for cas who will want to sign him, Salford,or Leigh perhaps?.

Are you off your trolley? We have supported this guy in the past and he walked away from the club. His negative influence, especially on the younger players, could destroy the next generation of home grown talent. Keep him well away from the club, let his so called "mates" help him out.