I have no problem with the club doing this at all as long as Gaz really is truly sorry and stays well away from drugs.

It's not like he beat glassed a woman up or attacked a couple in an house, now that seems to be ok to carry on playing with the RFL.

The rules ands regs say this:

"A Person who has been declared Ineligible may not, during the period of Ineligibility, participate in any capacity in a Competition or other activity (other than authorised anti-doping education or rehabilitation programmes) organised, convened or authorised by the RFL or by any body or Club that is a member of, or affiliated to, or licensed by the RFL."

There is no way that allows Hock to work in the Junior Development setup.

In any case I am sure the parents of the juniors would be well pleased to have a player known to be be a drug user looking after their kids. He hasn't just cleaned up his act overnight and needs to be rehabilitated and there would need to be evidence he had succeeded in his rehabilitation before he could be let near the juniors. In fact I wonder if Hock would get CRB clearance to work with kids anyway.

So if the club think they have found a way around the above rule and want to try and use him in junior development they are misguided IMO.

Dave

Well done to the club if true

Hocks made a mistake and will be punished by not playing for 2 years.

I laugh at the people who dont want to give him a second chance in life. theres murderers and rapist with second chances walking the streets far christsake.

There are players STILL playing after doing far far worse than Hock

Some of the best people to work in any form recovery programmes are the people with experience of not just being a drug user/alcoholic/burglar etc but who have proven that they have overcome their problems. This should be Hock's first priority, to show that for a lengthy period he is "clean" and is capable of being a role model to young players/drug users and so on. He would then become a positive influence for the club or community to draw on. I am not sure that a couple of weeks post ban qualifies him for that postion yet.

I think you need to remember what you said before you accuse someone of disagreeing with you.

You said "I'm not sure if they can legally make that work - I mean within the RFL's terms of legality..."

All I have done is confirm your opinion that it is against the RFL rules!

Now if you think the club know more about it, on what basis did you offer your opinion they could not do it in the first place?
I said I wasn't totally sure what the ruling would be.

Then, in response to your usual negative anti-Wigan RL spin - "if the club think they can use this to get around the rules yada yada yada yawn yawn yawn" - I pointed out that whatever decision they eventually come to will be based on talking to the right people, because let's face it, they'll have no choice but to do that.

As for the other stuff - given how difficult it is for a lad to make it into the Scholarship ranks at Wigan, any parent who dragged him away again merely because Gareth Hock was still attached to the club would want his head seeing to.

If my son was in the wigan scholarship i would welcome gaz hock working with the lads.

Players from that age need to be warned about the dangers to the careers and most imporantly there health if they take drugs.And to be told from someone who drugs have almost destroyed his life can only help them

To see a fallen hero telling them the path he took is not worth risking it all is whats needed IMO

Yes.

I would hope he is allowed to have some kind of role within the club, it seems the most sensible solution.

This all comes down to the lad himself. If he is genuinely focused on changing his ways then as a society..never mind as a club!....we should be supporting that. If he proves himself worthy I, for one, will be applauding him should he step out onto the field in 2 years time a reformed character. More so if that's in a Cherry and White shirt!