I would be very surprised if Saints fans couldn't keep quiet for a minute's silence in the circumstances. You're bound to get the odd idiot (from St Helens, Wigan and amongst the neutrals) but I would expect a minute's silence to be well observed in the circumstances.

This whole sorry episode does raise a serious point about people who take drugs within our game. It is quite easy to castigate said player and think of them as nothing but cheats within the sport but as this tragedy has pointed out we are dealing with a human being.

Although I agree with the punishments that are imposed I would like to know if there are any rehabilitation procedures for players who are banned and whether we as a sport try to get to the bottom of why a player will take drugs and what methods are needed to help that player through his imposed ban.

A man may take drugs and get caught but when that man, severely depressed & away from the norm of his usual career takes his own life it put things into perspective. I hope more is done so to teach players against going down this route but more is done also to stop players possibly following a similar scenario if they are caught.

Well the players union would agree with you (and so do I) but I don't think you can assume being banned was the only thing that led to this tragic event.

Dave

We don't know exactly what happened and thus everything is conjecture, however this shows the human side to a tragic event. It is interesting to take the difference in the way that Gareth Hock has been treated and Terry. I know we are not meant to have any contact with Gareth but it loks like the club wrapped him in cotton wool while at the same time Wakefield just cancelled Terry's contract. It makes you wonder if all was done for Terry and if we as a club or the RFL comunity as a whole could or should have done any more

purely conjecture, but maybe Wakey would not have turned their back had Terry been in his mid 20's as Gaz H is?

rlMinutes Silence it is.rl

I hope beyond hope that this is observed with complete respect.

A brave move by the RFL. As a previous poster said at a normal league game I would have no doubts about it being perfectly observed, at the final unfortunatly I am not as sure.

I am sure the vast majority of us regardless of who we support will respect it, I just hope the idiots don't spoil it

And let's all hope it's impeccably observed.

Well if this is the case then fine.

I just hope that when people inevitably make some noise, that other idiots don't start booing and shouting at them. Shut up and ignore them. You only make it worse.

minute silence it is , every self respecting rugby league fan should abide by this, you should be able to hear a pin drop in that stadium

If it's a silence, I'll be silent. If it's applause, I'll applaud.

Sad waste of life. Bit surprised by some of the "ultimate professional" lines being trotted out though; I mean, really?

me neither mate..and the HGH never enteed my head until i read that link i copied from another poster.

he was a great wigan player who gave 100% every time he hit the field.........and thats the TN i remember.
oh.....and i met him a few times and he came over as a fun guy.

IMO this is the wrong decision and it is still not too late to turn it into a minute applause.

What has happened puts Rugby League (and sport in general) into perspective. However on a Rugby level he was detested by Saints fans and the reasons for this are well documented.

A minutes silence after some 'fans' will have been drinking for 5/6 hrs is asking for trouble and will taint RL's family image. Its a sorry state of affairs but its also reality.