big earning contract at Wigan ? I wonder if wigan have him on probation for first year at a lesser salary ? if he keeps his Nose clean they will pay him higher?

I would guess he will be on much less than he was on at Cas and like you say on some sort of probation period that covers Wigan in the event of him going off the rails.
The downside is what effect he has on his team mates and where they stand with the morals of it all.
But if what has been said is true that taking substances is rife then maybe the players at Wigan would be happy to take him as long as they are winning.
It worked for Cas, almost.

Interesting that Dr Chris Brookes gave evidence to support Hardakers stance that his other illnesses played a role in him getting drunk and then taking coke with his mates.... it's not something he does regularly, no sir, never... it was a mixture of an emotional anniversary and his illnesses... the poor lad...
Dr Brookes was of course giving evidence in his role as England RL doctor and not in his role at Wigan... his affiliation with Hardakers next employer had nothing to do with his supporing testimony, no sir, never...

Scandalous

This stinks. He’s been made out to be the victim which he, himself, probably believes. Give it 2-3 years, he’ll be in big trouble again for some reason or another.

TBH I don't have a problem with the ban. He's only got a ten year or so career, and he's lost a whole season of income. On top of that missing out on a GF and potentially costing his team their first ever Championship is a huge black mark to carry round as well. He could have gone down as a legend at Cas, and very near top of the tree at Leeds as well. Now his reputation at both clubs is in tatters.

Regardless, whether he comes back anywhere near as good as he was is down to him. I actually hope he does, RL can't afford to lose quality players, which he is.

All this RL needs its star players etc is BS imo.
RL needs his players to behave first & foremost & then at the very least learn from their mistakes.
If you continiously offend & then still get caught like ZH has you deserve to be punished this victim card has worn very thin.
Imo he's very lucky again & it wont be long before he does something else.

Spot on. Gets a year out the game and comes back on a big contract playing for a bigger club.

Allegedly him and a pal drank 7 pints each, and a litre of vodka and whiskey. That was before taking the drugs. Taking the drugs out the equation ,that amount of alcohol in the lead up to the biggest game in the history of cas Tigers is staggering.
If as appears cas terminated his contract and received no fee from Wigan that is strange. Why not keep him and sell him, when his ban is finished. I like Powell as a coach and he seems a decent man, he certainly deserved better from hardaker. At face value Wigan have snapped up a bargain buy. Time will tell, surely he won’t screw up again?!!!

If Cas had kept with him they would have been ridiculed in some quarters for not setting an example. Morally I think they have done the right thing, though I am not normally the type to dump stupid people on the scrap heap. I am not happy that Wigan appear to think it is acceptable to start talking to disgraced players about a fat new contract even before the ban is announced.

All that ?disgraceful a young athlete abusing his fitness

You are correct, cas made the right call. I still think they should receive some payment for the lad. Why should cas lose out because hardaker steps out of line. I note the anti doping committee have stated that hardaker was fortunate to take the drugs, as to carry on drinking that amount of alcohol would have killed him. Sadly all this is a major article in today’s times, it’s also well covered in other major newspapers.

I applaud Cas from making a strong statement by Sacking Hardaker. It's just a shame they could find a way to extract some money from the Pies by holding onto his registration.

I do too, Cas did the right thing and i feel a bit for the way they have come out of all this.Not only did he scupper their SL title chances but he cost them thousands of pounds in the process. In the meantime Zak has a year of down time knowing he already has a top club lined up for 2019 and beyond, probably spending the time jollying it up with his pals.yeah, some punishment that.

The RFL should force ZH to pay a percentage of the Cas transfer fee they paid leeds out of his wages for the duration of his Wigan deal as way of compensation but no doubt nothing will happen and he carries on until the next time he decides to over step the mark.