Hudson should not have even been on the pitch. After taking performance enhancing drugs he should never have been allowed to play Rugby League. Before people mention Gaz Hock he took recreational drugs.

Given the drink drive limit is scarecely over 1 drink it certainly wouldn't be too hard to find many such examples. To be honest I'm less concerned with the damage a grown adult does to their own body through their own free will than the damage they do to others through that same choice. The study I linked to before shows that alcohol does far more 'societal damage' than any other drug, ie it causes lots more harm to people not consuming than any other drug. So if players want to be good role models abstaining from , at least in public, would be by far the easiest thing they could do (in terms of stopping bad behaviour I mean).

I mean there's another thread here talking about the success of Bradley Wiggins and how the club should be trumpeting the fact he's a fan. Trumpeting the disciplined lifestyle and dedication to his craft would also be no bad thing. He used to drink heavily in the close season. Then he got serious about road cycling, sorted his diet and lifestyle out all year round, and is now reaping the rewards. That there's a lesson to players and fans alike.

I think the drug argument has 1 decisive factor and 1 only. Forget legality and forget how much they harm or dont harm the body the decisive factor is this.
Recreational vs Cheating.

If you take a recreational drug then you are a complete and utter idiot but you are doing it for exactly this "recreation."

If you take a performance enhancing drug then you are deliberately taking a drug that is going to give you an edge over your competitors.

Now it doesnt take a brain surgeon to realise that theres a huge difference between the two. And before people say about how "steroids are prescribed but drug like weed, cocaine and heroin arent" you're wrong Morphine is very related to heroin and there are also pain killers related to cocaine.

I understand that this means that cocaine can help with pain relief but I think if a study was conducted they would almost certainly find that these pain relief effects would not still be in effect the day after or two days after whenever it was that Hock took the drug.

In my opinion, if someone is caught having used a recreational drug it should be left to the clubs discretion whether the player is punished but with a mandatory drug awareness course and a set RFL imposed ban that is of indeterminate length until the player completes the drug awareness course (a minimum of 3 months) then if the player still tests positive they are banned for life and they are also banned for life if they ever test positive again in the future.

I also feel that bans for HGH or Steroids should be supported with psychiatric help. They need to still be as long as they are now though as this is cheating whether you like it or not. Gleeson was a cheat. Newton (RIP) was a cheat. Simple as.

My thoughts to a T, only put a lot better than I could put it.

Well said Sir, I agree with almost every word you wrote.

I don't follow your argument. No-one from the RFL's said that Sam wasn't bitten, only that there was insufficient evidence to confirm whether or not he was.