i believe cocaine can be used to mask the presence of other drugs, hence its a banned substance. that and as you said its illegal.



people are having a field day with pro cycling today because contador had a 20 billionth of a gram (yes thats the right figure) of a substance in his blood which means cycling must still be full of druggies. no other sport would even notice that amount. all sports should stick to the WADA bans and that means 2 years for scum like hock

Quote ="Gazemous"Punishing a sportsman who takes a recreational drug in the same way you punish a sportsman who takes a performance enhancing drugs makes absolutely zero sense. Hock took an illegal drug and should have been reported to the relevant authorities, only a punishment of bringing the sport into disrepute should have to be considered. Where's Gareth Raynor's two year ban? Chev Walker's? Ben Cockayne's? Ryan Bailey's? The list of people breaking the laws of the land is too long, it seems nonsensical that an offence that doesn't directly harm another human being and has no criminal penalty results in a two year ban from earning a living, but beating people up in the streets and ripping people off gets absolutely zero punishment from the ">sport.'" Very true As with any sport, Rugby League needs to decide if it is to punish players for cheating on the pitch or breaking the 'law of the land'. If the list of players above don't receive further retribution from the RL authorities, it would seem harsh on Hock to be punished for two years for an offence that pretty much everybody agrees was not cheating the rules of the sport I agree that Hock is an @rse for putting his (relatively) short career in jeopardy through taking class A drugs - but he is no more of an @rse than Bailey's, Cockayne's and Walker's of this world who brawl on the streets

Quote ="Gazemous"Punishing a sportsman who takes a recreational drug in the same way you punish a sportsman who takes a performance enhancing drugs makes absolutely zero sense. Hock took an illegal drug and should have been reported to the relevant authorities, only a punishment of bringing the sport into disrepute should have to be considered. Where's Gareth Raynor's two year ban? Chev Walker's? Ben Cockayne's? Ryan Bailey's? The list of people breaking the laws of the land is too long, it seems nonsensical that an offence that doesn't directly harm another human being and has no criminal penalty results in a two year ban from earning a living, but beating people up in the streets and ripping people off gets absolutely zero punishment from the ">sport.'" Very true As with any sport, Rugby League needs to decide if it is to punish players for cheating on the pitch or breaking the 'law of the land'. If the list of players above don't receive further retribution from the RL authorities, it would seem harsh on Hock to be punished for two years for an offence that pretty much everybody agrees was not cheating the rules of the sport I agree that Hock is an @rse for putting his (relatively) short career in jeopardy through taking class A drugs - but he is no more of an @rse than Bailey's, Cockayne's and Walker's of this world who brawl on the streets

Just out of interest, what do the Rugby League authorities do as regards monitoring a players activities during their ban? Are they subject to testing throughout their ban, and if so what are the consequences if they fail a test during that ban?

I think as long as Rovers compensated Hull FC with the appropriate money loses then the Paul Cooke ban on the pitch was harsh. Rugby players should have the free will to play wherever the want in the world. Anything to do with off field activities should stay off field unless its something to do with taking performance enhancing drugs of course or breaking the spirit of the salary cap.



If approaching another club is against the Salary cap then god help us all. Imagine if you was unhappy in work and you started approaching other workplaces?

I think the issues surrounding Hock's ban are too much of an issue within the sport for them to be lenient with Hock.

Quote ="Damo-Leeds"Surely he’s learnt his lesson now? I personally think that public awareness of what players have done wrong shouldn’t be coupled with bans that last for years and it should just be three month bans at most ">IMO.'" No

Quote ="Damo-Leeds"Surely he’s learnt his lesson now? I personally think that public awareness of what players have done wrong shouldn’t be coupled with bans that last for years and it should just be three month bans at most ">IMO.'" No