I hope Cas will stick with Zak
ZAK HARDAKER is not the first high-profile Super League player to test positive for cocaine – and he is unlikely to be the last.
This season alone, Wakefield prop Adam Walker, Widnes playmaker Rangi Chase and now Castleford full-back Hardaker, below, have been caught using the recreational drug.
In 2009, Gareth Hock brought shame on himself and the sport after testing positive for benzoylecgonine, the main metabolite found in cocaine.
On the surface, Hock’s life could not have been much better at the time. He was playing for his hometown club Wigan, he was in the England squad, and earning good money.
Away from rugby, Hock was a regular cocaine user and his world eventually came crashing down. The tough, uncompromising forward said: “I would take cocaine after a game when I was in town on the ale.
“As soon as I’d had a beer, that was it and I became hooked.
“I don’t know how many times I did it before getting caught, but it was a lot.
“I remember the day I got tested thinking, ‘I’ve been caught here’, but straight after I flew to Paris to play for England.
“I heard nothing for a week and then I went to Ibiza with my missus. As soon as I got back, it got confirmed and I had to go into the club, get my stuff and say goodbye to all the lads.
“That was hard, but if you dwell on it, you’ll only feel worse and end up not coming back at all.”
Wigan could easily have sacked Hock. Instead, they stood by him and handed him a new long-term deal before he made his comeback in June 2011. The 34-year-old said: “At first you think your life is over with and that first year was a bit of a drag, but I carried on training with a personal fitness instructor and before I knew it I was back playing. “If I hadn’t had the support of Wigan, I don’t think I would have played again. I thought I had lost everything but I actually signed a new deal, got back playing, made the Super League Dream Team and returned to the England fold.” Hardaker, 25, was dropped from the Tigers’ squad for Saturday’s Grand Final defeat by Leeds Rhinos at Old Trafford for a then unspecified breach of club rules. He was left out of England’s World Cup squad yesterday and now faces a nervous wait to discover the length of his ban. Hock added: “I know what Zak is going through because I still get s**t for it now.
“I get booed by rival fans and called a ‘cokehead’ – Zak will get all that as well.
“You’ve just got to get your head down and get used to it.
“Castleford should stick with him because he’s a great player and my story shows you can come back a better player and person.
“If Zak only gets a two-year ban like I did, he has still got plenty of rugby ahead of him and hopefully it won’t be any longer.
“I got to know him during our time together in the England camp and he’s a good kid.
“I was 25 when I got banned and he’s that age now, so he’s young enough and good enough to turn it around and rebuild his career.”
Two months ago, former Great Britain international Garry Schofield claimed that rugby league is “rife with cocaine”.
Hock, who is searching for a new Super League club after leaving relegated Leigh, said: “It’s still going on, but I don’t know who does it, and some people don’t know the consequences
He’s a good kid, he’s young enough to rebuild his career
of it. I’d certainly never touch it again, no chance.
“I’m glad it happened in a way because if I hadn’t got caught I would have kept on doing it.
“I actually came back to earn more money and achieve more than I ever had. It was a kick up the backside, but it happened for a reason.
“I’m a miles better person now than I was then.
“I’m a family man, I’ve got my house and kids, but I still play rugby.”