News just in live on Sky, as the title says... Rangi Chase has been tested positive for cocaine in a drugs test www.seriousaboutrl.com/chase-sus ... -use-8905/ Adam Walker: Wakefield Trinity prop suspended for positive cocaine drugs test www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/40834496

News just in live on Sky, as the title says... Rangi Chase has been tested positive for cocaine in a drugs test www.seriousaboutrl.com/chase-sus ... -use-8905/ Adam Walker: Wakefield Trinity prop suspended for positive cocaine drugs test www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/40834496

I am concerned about Rangi's mental state after hearing of this announcement
How many chances has this guy had and naffed it all up?

This guy needs urgent help IMO

What an eejit - there's no cure for that.

He's suffered from depression. If your state of mind isn't right it can make you do daft things.

However, I may be being too nice there. It just might be a case of the lad being a complete turnip!

Yes he needs support. Yes he's got some serious character flaws. But bell-ends anonymous doesn't exist for him to reach out to.

Just can't help him. But at the same time, he needs the support, I'd hate think of the consequences.

The worst part is that this might see Widnes drop into the Championship and result in his colleagues taking large salary cuts or career uncertainty. He may have his issues but it is unbelievably selfish.

Although Tony Gigot has done his best to neutralise the impact of Chase on Widnes, by apparently having his two year ban re-instated!

I'm sorry, but I'm sick of seeing "mental health" being wheeled out as an excuse for general bellendery. It's an absolute insult to those with genuine problems.

This is almost like Wakefield 2015 and the Tim Smith/ Kevin Locke fiasco. Both were sacked a week or so before the MPG. Least Widnes have a few more weeks to recover.

Widnes has been looking like a relegated side all season. Chase may have just made that more likely. Purely from a HKR perspective, with this and the Gigot news, everything is working in our favour. We just need to take this opportunity....

Gigot's ban was repealed just before he played a blinder against Leigh in his 1st game back, everyone questioned why & he almost certainly helped Dragons win that game.

Chase is a different entity & possibly a victim of his apparent low IQ & other issues. Regarding Rangi, he is either a force in the game or being carried dependant on the day in question.
While at Leigh I saw very little of the 'magic' he is revered for, he is certainly excellent at playing the 'sick note' position though.

An end to Rangi's sporting career & a 'regular' job might have the potential to be the catalyst to his rcovery & wellbeing, who knows ?

I hope Chase can overcome his demons but ultimately he is done for in this sport.

I think many more players will be guilty of taking coke/recreational drugs .Remember Hock saying he thought he'd be clear before chance of being tested . Unfortunately people from teens to 40s are regularly taking something on their nights out and it is normal in the circles the players are moving in.Are they role models and should they know better? Undoubtedly yes but Chase isn't a naive youngster and his bad choices have reached a peak it seems.A shame for him and Widnes.Im sure there will be more to the story than released but he has my sympathy from the human aspect of it if not the professional sportsman side.Hope he comes out the other side of this and finds the right path

Undoubtedly one of the most talented individuals I have seen play for Cas. He did things that no other players could even dream of, particularly in his first spell at the club.
Unfortunately, his problems are down to poor decision-making, perhaps as a result of mental health issues.
Constantly putting himself into volatile situations led to numerous club warnings and suspensions. Deciding to go out and get hammered (alone) in places where trouble was likely to occur (the middle of Pontefract, a Featherstone game) is not a decision made by a sane individual. Likewise, taking crack less than 24 hours before a game suggests a man not making rational decisions.
Without saying too much, he has also made some very bad decisions in his personal relationships and isolated those who would be best placed to help him.
His actions, to me, speak of someone who has serious mental health issues.
Having met him a good number of times, I can also say that in a personal level he is polite, friendly and willing to give his time freely. He was always happy to spend time talking to my daughter and doing photos at games and never came across as arrogant or aloof.
I hope he gets the help he clearly needs.

Phew, thank Christ your qualifications as a psychiatrist put you in a position to correctly analyse & diagnose Rangi's demons as simple bellendery. That Terry Newton was another one.

Chase is undoubtedly talented, but having been given numerous chances by various clubs, he persistently lets down the people who invest in him. I don't buy the mental health story either - I work in mental health, and I can say with certainty that snorting coke is not an antidote or a form of self-medication - if anything, it exacerbates existing problems, and at 31 and with a family and an enviable international career, he has significantly more opportunities than most people with debilitating *actual* mental health issues.

Does he have problems? For sure - but I'd suggest his biggest problem is that he's as thick as mince.

Did Newton ever go to a rival team's match that didn't concern his own and start a fight with a rival fan? Because that pretty much smacks of bellendery. Sure Chase may need help, for being addicted to being an idiot.

Ever considered that a person's behaviour may be linked to their mental health?

Or vice versa?

For all Chases undoubted talent was he actually any good as an RL player. Looking back over his career even when he was on top and playing gaining a man of steel award he actually never managed a top half finish in SL. Every team he then went to and subsequently left all improved when he departed. Very good individually but an awful team player

Just back this up, my favourite and least favourite Chase memories come from the same game.

Challenge cup semi final v Leeds in 2011. He scored a majestic individual try to nudge us ahead, as good a try as he has ever scored. Scores locked at 8-8. 10 seconds remain , Cas 15m out, ball checked back to Rangi for a DG attempt to get Cas to Wembley, he skewers it horribly wide. Leeds go on to win in golden point, we fold like a pack of cards and from being top at easter finish 9th and miss out on the playoffs.

I really fear for Rangi now and he had numerous chances this season with Cas alone, then got a great opportunity with widnes. He has 3 young children and has been on self destruct mode. It simply boils down to him. Everyone at Cas was willing him to do well not only with us but people then wanted him to do well at Widnes. Mental health or not, sometimes as a grown adult you need to take accountability for your actions and you can't just bound around breaking every single rule going.

The biggest test of Rangi's life is where he goes from here and rugby is now irrelevant. Needless to say I'll continue to wish him well, and hope he can sort himself out.

The best thing reading these comments is that 90% of them are genuinely concerned/supportive for Rangi. I half expected to see everyone jumping at the chance to stick the knife in.

He needs to give rugby a back seat and get some help, his career isn't the important thing right now.

Should players even be tested for recreational drugs? I'd estimate that at least 6 out of 10 Super League players will have snorted coke on a night out during their career. Stupid to get banned for it if you ask me, as long as it isn't performance enhancing then they should be allowed to do what they want.

Chase had a childhood of extreme domestic violence, alcoholism, drug abuse & crime. Anyone who has seen the effects of childhood abuse know the effects are no respecter of class or intelligence. It can manifest itself in self abuse - self harm, self loathing, alcohol, drugs - or violence towards others. Chase might well be thick, it doesn't really matter. He has issues; for the sake of his wife & children I hope he can sort them out.

Don't. I can still remember that feeling when the ball went back to him. I'd have put my house on it being all over. I couldn't believe he missed.