650 tests in one year may sound a lot and to some enough but there must be at least 300 SL registered players and over 300 in the other 2 leagues so you have to be unlucky to be caught or rather the RFL have to be lucky .
650 is not enough .

The news on Terry Newton doesnt suprise me, im a Bradford fan and although he is a very good player, i dont think his head is screwed on at times!
I can't believe a professional can be so stupid to take an illegal substance given the tests they have to do.
Best of luck for the rest of the season, great start to the year. I hope Glenn Morrison stays fit all year, he will be a massive player for you. I was gutted when he left bulls!!

He (TN) is the latest to be caught out and I'm sure the tip of a reasonable sized iceberg.
For a minority sport we have had more than our fair share of unproffesional behaviour wether that be attacking people, alleged rapes, drug taking, when will these idiots learn? Perhaps when they are punished far more severely. If Newton is caught out it will with his age probably be the end of his career, but Hudson was welcomed back, hock will be, barnett is back at Sheffield, minutes after his ban was over. These people, if they cannot be banned for life should be looking at a much longer ban, if only to deter youngsters. What kind of a warning to a young player, does making a known cheat your club captain, the kind where the punishment is worht the risk.
Over the years we have all heard rumours about this player and that, in the clubs they have a greater day to day knowledge of what is going on, like Cullen said on boots n all, don't let them back until thyve split on who supplied them, who turns a blind eye to it and who else is using it.
Mind you, wasn't he the coach in charge at Warrington when barnett jr, got caught out????

2 years is fine by me as a penalty for this sort of alleged incident.

ridiculous to suggest a life ban from your profession, gets on my nerves sometimes this sportmen as icons, there not that are doing there job,what next?

you telling me kids dont look up and aspire to be rock stars???
you gonna ban aerosmith evertime one of tham has a line? er no

lets face it 2 years is probably about a 150k fine in loss of earnings

I'm not sure if I am misunderstanding what you are saying but I would point out a 2nd sample would not have been taken later. One sample is taken and split into 2 at the time. The "A" sample is tested and if positive then the "B" sample is taken out of secure storage and also tested - mainly to rule out contamination of either the "A" test or the "A" sample itself.

It should also be noted you can get medical exemptions for the use of otherwise banned substances ie insulin/diabetics and steroids/asthmatics

What saddens me about this is that i now have Leeds fans coming up to me at work saying now we know why your wining games your cheating. I am sure like me you have all enjoyed your work etc this week where you can wind up the leeds/cas fans and it has been great, this epsiode has tarnished everything.
Last night my 10 year old daughter asked me why the trinity team are taking drugs, obvioulsy i explained that it is one person and that he has not been found guilty yet but it saddens me after such a positive start we are talking about this and she has this view.

The other thing if the incident was end of November, surely he hadn't even started at the club?

by their definition performance enhancing drugs are taken to enhance performance and recreational drugs taken recreationally. There are very few recreational drugs which would enhance performance, and even fewer where the enhancement would be anymore than negligible.

There is a massive difference between recreational drug use and cheating, its pretty much obvious that there is a difference by them being different things

Dress it up however you want,ive heard all the arguments before,ie,some recreational drugs being socially acceptable.However if you test positive in competition for recreational drugs it still carries a two year ban,so WADA dont really view performance enhancing or recreational drugs much differently.Dont get me wrong,i would feel sympathy for somone getting caught out after having a sly splith -- but they know what the consequences can be.

100% correct

its nothing to do with social acceptance. Its to do with a moral decision.

Recreational drug use is at best a personal choice and at worst a medical problem.

Performance enhancing drugs are at best a mistake, at worst a deliberate attempt to cheat.

WADA's attitude to recreational drug use is more an acknowledgement of the limits of its testing programme and disciplinary procedures
than its morals.

besides, im not sure why WADA would be in a position to dictate sporting morals or personal ones.

Im not disagreeing with the points you make.But the RFL,i think,signed up to abide by WADA guidelines,so everyone knows the consequences.

Maybe WADA look at the bigger picture,in that recreational drugs(although personal choice),can lead to carnage and unhappiness for others around the user,where as performance enhancing is only likely to affect the user.
I do agree with you that someone taking rec.drugs is not a cheat in the same way as someone doing performance enhancing.My point is only that all players are aware of the consequences of doing either and therefore deserve everything they get.

just because the rules are as they are doesnt mean they are right. Nor does it mean those punished by them get 'everything they deserve'

It isnt WADAs place to start moralising on any issue

The main job now is to focus the team. There's no point in us trying to defend anyone because he wears red, white and blue, and even less point in other fans having a go at Wakey because he potentially brought to his new club the baggage from his personal life. If he took something knowingly, he knows the score and will be punished accordingly. It may end his career, given his age, and I do have some sympathy with him, but there are many jobs where a drug issue would result in the sack; the police, for instance.

I'm just irritated because it has taken the gloss off the good start, particularly just after a good win. The saving graces are that he hasn't been with the team long and so can hardly be described as pivotal, and we could just as easily lost him to injury, and so you can't bank on players being available all season. At least now we can bank the cash, maybe bring on some more youngsters, or be in a better position to retain the services of current players.

Anyone who knows the facts knows that it has very little to do with Wakey, and so the whingeing whinos should wind their necks in, but equally, as Wakey fans, we should share their anger, because we don't know what effect this will have within the team at a time when they looked a good, hard-working unit.

Not going to read through 10 pages of what I presume is rubbish. Just wanted to say that if he has done it, he is a very silly man, and it will be a sad end to a career as I cant see anyone touching him if he is banned for two years. He will be 33(?) in two years time.
He once came into our school and seemed like the ultimate proffessional. He was really good with the kids as well, and spent ages telling them about keeping fit, how to be a good player etc.

having not commented on this before, i am disappointed that we have drugs in our game (although i accept that it is bound to happen) and especially diappointed that the player is one of ours.

although he probably wasn't under contract to us (i believe contracts run 1st dec- 30 nov), he would have been training with us. i do not believe anyone conncted with the game blames or points the finger at wakefield, but yuo can bet the fans will. especially those fans who hate terry anyway (e.g. st helens)

from this point on, what happens to terry, happens to terry.

i would like to wakefield use the money we are not paying terry to pay for a test, or series of tests for all of our players. i believe that this would help us in the community and hopefully (?) prove that no other wakfield player was taking drugs. it would show wakefields stance on drugs and hopefully go a long way to isolate the club from the incident.

overall, i personally would like to see the game test everyone, but it seems that we are just following the WADA guidelines. although, if this is the tip of the iceburg, how big would the iceburg be?


one thing that does puzzle me is that i assume that all new players to the club undergo a physical to prove their fitness. wouldn't the club include a simple drugs test as part of this physical?