Perhaps Lomax can go back to his natural position of half back?

Barba will be a sensation in SL - a fantastic addition to the competition

I agree, in the top 10 for tries scored and tries assisted in the NRL last year; he's got some talent!

I know morally we should uphold the ban but I kind of hope we don't, can't wait to see what he can bring to the league.

A poor man's Zak Hardaker.

Drugs cheat. His ban should remain intact.

Hardly a drugs cheat, took recreational drugs after the Grand Final win, wasn't performance enhancing so calling him a drugs cheat is far from accurate.

Not condoning it by any stretch of the imagination, as I said morally the ban has to stand but I am looking forward to watching him in SL. Regardless of mistakes he's made he's still a great player to watch.

IIRC the NRL said the ban would come into effect once he is back contracted to a Aussie club to stop him bypassing the ban in French rugby or any competion. So going by the original NRL ruling he should be free to play SL and any ban by the RFL would be in addition to the NRL one. In which the RFL probably couldn't ban him without him breaking any RFL rules.

It's always surprising to me that some people are happy to moderate the punishment for players found to be in breach of the rules, based on how good they are - or how good they are perceived to be.

What were there circumstances of his ban? i.e. Why was Hock (and others) banned for 2 years and Barba 12 games?

I thought the same when it initially happened to be honest!

After the incident with Bromwich and Proctor being seen taking drugs the other week, you would think the league would haul them in for a drugs test straight away and ban them but that doesn't seem to have happened. Appears to be a bit of a drug culture with NRL players and it doesn't appear the league is doing much to stop it!

Surely he would be throwing his own livelihood away ? unless he is being forced to take banned substances by his club
Not wishing to be holier than thou but, any professional sportsman (or woman) know that they could be tested for banned substances at any time so, either, dont do it or, risk getting a ban.

Didn't Saints recently sack an academy player for taking recreational drugs?

Regards

King James

Drug Authorities catch you = 2 years if out of comp, 4 years if in comp (in system on match day).

NRL in-house testing catch you... 1st offence = un-publicised and a training course (slap on wrist) 2nd offence = 12 weeks (slap on wrist) 3rd offence = unspecified big ban (unless you're an NRL/QLD legend/darling type player)

NRL are super weak on this!

As much as I'm looking forward to watching Barba play in SL, I do think that the ban should stand. Whatever the ban was for is immaterial IMO. Any bans imposed by either the RFL or NRL should be 'game wide'. If a player is banned for a couple of games and that clashes with an international fixture then they are not eligible to play in the international, so my simple way of looking at things says that there is no difference between the 2. It makes no difference what the ban was for or who the player is, a 12 match ban from rugby league should mean exactly that, simple. No loopholes, no trying to cheat the system, no 'extenuating or mitigating circumstances', a ban from the game for 'x amount of time/games' is a ban from the game.

Honestly we don't care that much, we were better without him and won a SL and CC the 2 seasons he was suspended. Your yness is duly noted though.

Fwiw I bothered to quickly look it up. Barba tested positive 4 days after the NRL GF. Cocaine stays in your system between 2-4 days after use.