He has a choice really, there is a lad from the same neck of the woods, around the same age, a lad who went from zero to hero in a matter of months, got swept up in "the life" and all the trappings that kind of exposure and attention brings both good and bad, he too has really struggled with that pressure and even has a penchant for the crap tats similar to Hardaker. It's a slippery slope from be the boy done good, upandcoming next big thing to punching out a bloke dressed as Santa and struggling for consistency in a poor team.

It really is up to Zak, be disciplined, be pushed and be a great or carry on pishing his talent away down biggies on a Saturday night. TBF, he has asked for help and I expect it to be given. It's a short career, even shorter at the top, I fully expect him to finally sort himself out once and for all.

I agree that it's been handled very well. I know some fans of other teams inevitably think his punishment should be getting sacked, but reality is....that wouldn't be a punishment.

If we sacked him they'd be a queue of clubs lining up to offer him deals, both over here and some in Australia too probably. So his punishment for his indiscretions would possibly be that.....

- he's ended up at an NRL team playing in the premier league in his sport.
- more than likely on more money than he was at Leeds.
- improved his International chances because he's playing NRL weekly.
- spends his days on a beach in Australia.

Wouldn't exactly be a humbling lesson learnt bringing him down a peg or two.

Now I know anpther part of the argument is obviously how it effects the club. His indiscretions have put the clubs name in the press for all the wrong reasons, especially frustrating for a club who like to promote the role model aspect of their players such as Sinfield so the club will really hate that. However as much as image is important to the club they also want to be successful on the pitch and let's not be naive here......if he wasn't such a key first teamer he'd be gone by now. I think perhaps him admitting he has issues has helped him in terms of how the club have handled it, he hasn't been all Mario "why always me?" Ballotelli about things and perhaps shown the club there's JUST enough remorse/wanting to change in him that they think they can turn it around. And to be fair, if we are talking 5 years down the line where he's kept himself out of all trouble and become a very good professional (maybe even to the point that captaincy is in the running) then it's looks a great bit of PR in the long run for GH......"we look after our young individuals and support them when they mess up and help turn them into role models, would Zak have turned himself around if we didn't stick by him and support him?" etc.

Of course that is IF he keeps himself out of bother.....one more incident and regardless of his worth to the team then it'll be the last straw.

If Leeds sacked him he would be playing for the rest of the season on much reduced monies in Sl - none of the serious clubs would have the cap space and none of the poorer sides would have sufficient funds.

Unlikely many of the NRL clubs would take him at this stage of the season and slot him into the first team. He may be one of the best FB's in SL but in the NRL that would not be the case. Getting the sack would cost him significantly in the short term.

Think it depends how Zak takes another 'warning' and if he reads it as his last or is flippant enough to think that if something else occurs he would get another 'warning'.

He's a great player who I feel we're just scratching the surface on talent wise. cut the crap-lad and get on with your job.

Sincerely hope you're right and my cynicism is misplaced.

One of my brother-in-laws was a professional boxer (fought at middleweight in the same era as Herol Graham), his coach at the gym took him from being a young kid who needed a direction for his aggression to a professional boxer who earned a living for a couple of years at the sport and during the whole of that time the one message that was hammered through their skulls was that you are being taught some lethal lessons which simply don't get used outside of the ring, if he'd got into a fight on a Friday night out he'd have been sacked, simple as that.

After his fighting career he worked on and off on the doors of clubs and still never used his fists, even getting stabbed twice by "customers" and you'll find this very often with ex-pro boxers, they don't like to talk about their careers, aren't openly aggressive and have a control mechanism that stops them getting involved in those stupid Friday night rucks, there is a philosophy about boxing (and other martial arts) that maybe needs to be taught to rugby players too.

As part of our pre season training we did a session with a former MMA world champ. He was the most mild mannered bloke you could ever meet. Because of that you knew deep down that he was hard as nails

the 99 team were encouraged to drink together post match for bonding

the 80s sides were part time in a different era

we haven't had a team of angels but players have been removed for behaviour

just hope zak finds the right balance