It's one thing to go for a few drinks after a game when you aren't supposed to, it's another to then not turn up in the morning. He is dragging other players (who did turn up) into it to try and save his skin which frankly tells you all you need to know about his mentality.

He has had enough chances, I just wish he would get his head on straight and realise his potential

Unfortunately, I think it's almost too late for that. Gareth has spent his career closing doors of opportunity on himself. Look how many major trophies his missed while at Wigan - four, at my count. He's now 30. Salford must surely be his final chance.

what an absolute snake

I bet the squad are all gutted that a white rat has been ejected from the camp.........

It was already known a bunch of them went out on Saturday night.

So what?

If i was busted, i would not highlight the fact that my "mates" did exactly the same thing.

Especially not in my official club statement.

Boo Hoo

You broke the rules (twice) so man up and take it on the chin. Don't drag your "mates" into the same pot of poop just because you could not drag yourself out of your pit in the morning.

i know your just trying stick up for a marquee signing of you'r club like we did when he was at wigan but i didn't take a genius to work out what has happened and i was speculating i read the sky reports. It didn't take a genius that his excuse would be well it wasn't just me and "a few of the players are upset at how i have been treated" he always victimize himself and its about time he took responsibility and grew up.

I’m not trying to stick up for Hock, I just found it poor how people were passing comment last night and this morning without knowing the full facts. Now we know he and quite a few others went out for food and drinks after a disappointing loss to Italy despite the squad being on a drinking ban until after the Australia game. He also admitted he overslept and missed a 10 minute warm down and medical.

For me all those who were drinking whether it was one, two, three or ten should be punished, whether that be a small fine, a written warning etc. We don’t know if this has happened and this is where England have let themselves down with reporting and identifying only Gareth Hock. Obviously it appears Hock is the only one who missed the morning warm down due to oversleeping (was this because of a hangover or was it just a total accident – I have over slept for work a few times before) and so should be punished more harshly than the others. Whether that punishment should be permanent removal from the squad I don’t know.

It seems to me like the whole thing has been blown out of proportion and handled badly by England. I remember David Warner doing something much worse than this before the summers Ashes with England, infact he punched an opposition player in a nightclub during a drunken night out and he was sent over to Zimbabwe to play for Australia’s A team. There was no knee jerk reactions and removals from the squad or disruptive press releases and it was all dealt with relatively swiftly professionally. He was even called back to take part in the final two tests if I remember correctly.

Not much



(1) we got rid of him because he was a liability & a disruption to the squad in general
(2) there appear to be several breaches whilst on England duty (suspect shenanigans in SA ?)
& thus (3) hung-over & AWOL was the last straw
Not forgetting (4) he's hiding behind the RFL statement that the initial release would be the one & only & crying into his pint, hoping to get sympathy.

However, (5) no news is bad news - might just make a few of the ambulance chasers watch on Saturday & who knows, we might actually perform

Would this have happened with the Wigan team in the week leading up to the Grand Final or Challenge Cup Final (should there have been a similar no-alcohol ruling)?

1 - You have to look at the Coaching/Management Team and the disciplines & controls they set out to the squad on the evening of the Italy game....."Listen guy's you know the rules, no ale tonight".

2 - Understand what respect (if any) the players have for said Coaching/Management Team.

David Warner was a massive key to the success of Australlia. They banned him right up until the start of the Ashes. A sort of win-win situation.

Yes Gareth Hock is a key part of the England side when on form but is also a major liability too. I imagine he has more blotches on his copy sheet than going out and missing traning.

There is the chance of course that those who went out have got away with it because they turned up for training whereas Gareth couldn't be bothered. It was probably the fault of IFL and SW.

Agree 100%
There does appear to be a cohort that think they're above anything the management team want or ask them to do. We don't know who the ring-leaders are (were), but this should be a wake-up to the rest of the drinking party (esp if they're not even in the 17 at the weekend - or on the bench for 78 minutes).
McN was the best/only one available of a rubbish pool at the time, but he's all we've got for the next few weeks & I [ido[/i believe we should be getting behind the whole squad & not engaging in collective omphaloskepsis (look it up).



Glass half full.