Believe he starts training with the club anytime now.

Wasn't his ban from training up 1st week in September?

He can Train i believe in September but his ban runs for another 3 months from playing. Think his ban is 15 months but players are allowed to officially train with the club 3 months before the ban ends. Might be wrong on that though.

His ban was 14 months and I recall 9th September is the date its effective from.

YEP 14 month back dated ban to start 8th Sept 2017... can return to playing 7th November 2018....allowed to start training with Wigan full time 2 months earlier, so should be 8th September.......next Saturday

The countdown to meltdown starts on the 8th of September, tick tick tick

But he'll be great for you guys until the inevitable happens

How many games do you think you'll get out of him before he gets caught again???

90 games = 3 years

More than Tim Smith and Kevin Locke?

Woe betide him if he gets wrong side of Shaun Edwards....... Just saying..

Touche!

But like the players you quote - can a leopard change it's spots? He's a great player but sadly reminds me of Gareth Hock in the brains department.

We've all fallen foul of these wayward players in the past. And yet each time one of them moves to a new club, that club and its fans harbour hopes that somehow or other they will be ones who manage to tame him.

Sadly, it rarely happens. So, all you can do is take a chance that for the early part of his contract at least, you'll get some very good performances, which may secure you a trophy win or something similar, and that if he starts to play up later on, you'll have built sufficient safeguards into the deal to protect yourselves from having to pay compo when he's dismissed.

To be fair, we all said that about players under Wane when he was appointed, but look at the incidents we have had (Flower, Bateman, Tomkinsgate). I'm not saying that reflects on him, but some players will be idiots regardless of consequence. I'd put Hardaker firmly in that bracket. It's not like McDermott or Powell would have been soft touches.

He's one of those players to file under the heading "it was good while it lasted".
Another of the ilk of Chase, Sandow, Hock, Locke, Tomkins etc etc

I genuinely hope he manages to do well, not particularly on the field (especially against Cas!) but in life. He’s a really nice bloke when he’s happy and has stability around him off the field.
Unfortunately, his mental health issues make it difficult for him to make good decisions, though. His defence during his UKAD hearing was that he was incapable of making rational decisions due to his long-standing mental health difficulties. That alone is a concern and has proved his undoing up to now (attacking students, making homophobic comments, getting booted out of the England squad, getting hammered and taking coke) and that’s not something an RL coach can “fix”.
In life, individuals make their own decisions and Zak’s mental health issues make him prone to making the worst decisions he can. I’m pretty sure he didn’t wake up intending to do any of the stupid things he’s done in the past, and that he’s regretted them afterwards. But at that critical moment, when most of us would walk away or say no, Zak makes the wrong choice.
Added to this, his refusal to distance himself from his so-called mates who live a lifestyle that’s not conducive for a professional sportsman puts him in exactly the kind of situations that he can’t cope with.

I hope he’s able to get on top of the issues he has and do well for the next few years, but more importantly that he can also get himself sorted out for his life beyond RL. Unfortunately, he faces an uphill battle. More bad decisions are almost inevitable. I’m just glad he’s not at Cas when he makes one.

If he does have such issues then the best thing he could do is leave alcohol alone - as someone who struggles to make rational decisions then alcohol will only make that much worse. One thing that alarmed me was the sheer amount he allegedly drank when outlined in his UKAD hearing - that much would render most people totally incapacitated and certainly not in a position to do anything else - to me that indicates someone who is a habitual heavy drinker.

I can only see this ending one way, just a matter of how long.