Zak Hardaker To Join Wigan Warriors After Drugs Ban

(@ChaudhryMAli88)

Zak Hardaker to join Wigan Warriors after drugs ban

London, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 18th May, 2018 ) :Zak Hardaker has been warned that his move to rugby league club Wigan Warriors is his "final opportunity" to get his career back on track as he serves out the remaining months of a drugs ban.

The England international has signed a four-year deal with the Warriors and will join the Super League club in November. The 2015 Super League Man of Steel is serving a 14-month suspension imposed by UK Anti-Doping after testing positive for cocaine while he was a Castleford player.

He was sacked by the Tigers after they were informed of the test, which took place in September 2017 and was confirmed in April. Wigan confirmed the 26-year-old would be free to join the club officially on November 8, and permitted to train with them two months before that.

"We encountered a man who, after eight months of reflection, openly admits that he has made a series of significantly poor decisions over the past few years," said chairman Ian Lenagan "Crucially, we also saw someone who recognises that this is the final opportunity to focus on delivering the achievements his talent should generate." Hardaker was left out of the Tigers' Grand Final squad in October 2017 after the adverse drugs test came to light.

"I don't think you can get as low as I've been, really," said Hardaker, who described his financial difficulties after his contract was terminated. "I've been at quite a low period and I've come out of that quite well and when Wigan got interested in me it lifted my spirits a little bit and that was the turning point of 'I can't do this again'." "I'm really excited to get back into rugby league," he added.

"This is going to be the big step for me because I've been out of the game, not been able to play or train and it's started to bug me now." Wigan coach Shaun Wane said: "Zak is an outstanding competitor and a hugely talented individual who will understand the culture at our club.

He is the opposition name who, when we preview his team, is always the main danger. Now he is on our team and that is pleasing for everyone involved." Hardaker has been in trouble previously, axed from the England squad during the 2013 World Cup due to a breach of discipline that earned him a final warning from Leeds.

He served a five-match ban in 2014 for a homophobic insult towards a referee and in 2015, after being detained and questioned on suspicion of assault, he was forced to pay compensation and write a letter of apology to the victim.