Players getting into scraps is not a new thing. Early to mid nineties in Cas used to be a right night out and both pro players and local amateurs used to get into scrapes all the time, usually by association with their original amateur clubs, against rivals, or local idiots trying to make a name for them selves.
Even Lancashire based players playing it with team mates from the area.
Our esteemed coach himself was in court and charges for fighting in Leeds city centre when at bradford. What ever zac may or may not be involved in, he won't be the last. If he is guilty what will sacking him do, unless the RFL decide to suspend/block him playing anywhere else.

As others have said pryce, cockayne, Owens,have all been involved in very serious assaulted and been allowed to get on with their career.

I've stumbled across an article from the YEP from last week that have the pictures on. You can tell it is ZH because of all the tats on his arms. Idiot!

didnt rangi chase get found guilty of breaking some lads jaw yes it was in aus but still played the next day after the court case against us in cup semi final. price,bailey and walker all been done give the lad a chance and if they have taken this long they cant have to good of a case. i know it was football but bowyer and woodgate which was a far more serious offences both played in fact bowyer played his best football in the time

Zak has been a daft lad to even put himself in this situation, regardless of its' outcome. People need to calm down a little though, he's young, he's obviously a bit daft, but there's worse people sailing through their Superleague careers having done a lot worse. I don't hear anyone abusing or condemning the likes of Greg Johnson at Salford, let's not forget this fella is not long out of clink after sexually abusing and then glassing a woman in the face nearly blinding her. I'm not condoning what Zak "may" have done, but while beasts like Johnson are allowed back into our game it seems a bit harsh preparing the gallows for one of the brightest young talents in British sport.

absolutely agree. Rival fans will want us to sack him so a) we become weaker as a team and b) they can sign him up and become stronger

I for one would be delighted if Zak is found not guilty and I do not agree that he is not that good a full back.
Not sure I would want to swap him with any other full back in this league.
And whilst I agree his record of getting sent home in a late night drinking session with England and a couple of homophobic insults made in the heat of the moment is thought to be not bad.
It brings shame to the club and does nothing for the youngsters who look up to Zak as a role model.
How do we know that the club may well have said to Zak that one more indiscretion and you are out of here?
What if there's more to what has been made public in the past that the club are keeping quiet?
Why was he out at 3am?
Yes it would be great if we could keep him. But how many more chances does he get and what does it say to his team mates if he is allowed to get away with yet another stupid act?
The sad thing is he could get snapped up by say Wigan that could make the difference to them winning a dam site more than us this year and years to come.
Bottom line is he has let everyone down who has stood by him whether found guilty of assault or not.
But for those jumping on the bandwagon saying he is not really good enough is IMO short sighted and totally out of order.

always been the case, I think even going back to Leeds's awesome pack under Graham Murray (RIP) there would be idiots in places like Majestic who would want to take on the likes of Moz / Baz / Newton , not something I'd ever contemplate doing, but some local 'hardcase' would always fancy their chances.

...we digress

All i can really say is i hope he has no case to answer.However,if he is guilty of what is being alleged then he has had his chances from the club already and he should be cut loose in my opinion.

Sometimes you can have all the talent in the world it seems but common sense cannot be taught.see Gareth Hock

you cant compare GH to ZH..... gaz has been an absolute tool his entire career. zak on the other hand has had a mere handful of issues, most of which can be put down to his age.

I'd generally support the club standing by Zak. They did the same for Bailey and Walker. However, he needs to sort out his priorities - does he want to be known as a great rugby league player or a complete d*ck..

One thing that never ceases to amaze me is how often these incidents are in the early hours of the morning (same here in Australia) during the season. I know most players are full time nowadays, but it still strikes me as odd that clubs seemingly don't mind them going out till all hours getting bladdered. Its a bad look, can't do their bodies much good, and massively multiplies the chances of getting into trouble. I'm not saying they shouldn't be allowed out, but I'd hope with a bit of common sense we'd see far fewer incidents like this.

I certainly wouldn't like to, and am not comparing the two like for like but IF, and it still is an IF lets not forget,Zak is found guilty as charged then he appears to have similar amounts of common sense as mr Hock and fully deserves to be banded in the same category as a player who has unlimited talent but in the same breath unlimited amounts of brainfarts which cannot be tolerated by any respectable organisation.would you not agree?

not at all im afraid. the kids still young, if hes still doing stuff like this when hes 30 ill agree, but until then hes a young lad having fun. unfortunately this fun is putting himself in harms was, but its up to him. tbf, until we know all the details its all conjecture, so i could be defending a complete and you could be trying to sack an innocent man....

so IF being the word......

Looks at that opinion. Looks at the avatar.

Got to be a pi55 take, right?

One thing that has occurred to me this morning and it's something I've been guilty of amid all of this, is that a lot of us have posted saying things like he's stupid to put himself in this situation......

However if it was minchella that made the assault, what could he have done? This was 6 days before a game and he's entitled to be out until all hours, I've seen Watkins and many other players alike out until that time and beyond many a time, so until we know exactly what's happened I think we're wrong to say he's been stupid or daft to put himself in this situation after all he can't control the actions of another individual.

Yet another Hardaker related storm in a teacup. 1-0 to our nanny state, big brother is watching, modern ways. Guys like Kurt Sorensen, Kelvin Skerrett & Kev Ward must be p!ss!ng themselves at what the modern day player has to put up with.