i must admit he gives an interesting interview in the back of the wigan observer tonight.

they are extracts from his autobiography..

to quote his views on St Helens...

" i've been fined a small fortune for smashing players high over the years,but when the fine was for hitting saints players, i never minded paying it"

It's currently cheating at the moment as not everyone is doing it.

The second it become legal then it's no longer cheating.

Although it’s not the same is one person training for an hour and then drinking a protein shake after cheating compared to the guy who does the same but won’t have the shake?

For me enhancers wouldn’t be an issue if every person was taking them.

Egan and Sayer were before my time and I can't make my mind up about Kiss. However, I agree that Dermott and McCormack were better hookers.

Now he has spoken to the media he should let the RFL have the details. I would especially want him to provide details of anybody who's been advising/pushing others to use these, and any other, substances as I wouldn't want them anywherenear our sport especially kids.

If he needs an example he could do worse than look at David Millar in cycling who was banned for two years but by admitting all it helped him to come to terms with what he'd done. He's now back competing cleanly and doing quite well.

But now you're entering into a whole other argument:

Would you condone the FORCING of drugs on kids aged 11 or 12 ???

That is what would HAVE to happen in your scenario.

If a kid like Sam Tomkins, with all the natural skill in the world, wanted to carry on playing rugby league after puberty, he would HAVE to take steroids in order to compete with less skillful players who are willing to take the drugs to artificially improve.

What if a kid doesn't WANT to take the drugs? Should the coach be allowed to demand that he takes them or stops playing?

And who would pay for the damaging consequences?

It's a well proven fact that steroids cause long-term, massive damage to takers.

Should the RFL be forced to have a pot of money to pay compensation to players as they (inevitably) succumb to the cumulative effects of however many drugs their coach told them to take?
Or should players have to sign a waiver to state that they admonish the clubs and RFL of all responsibility for whatever damage is caused by taking the drugs that are REQUIRED in order to play professionally?

Your argument is a complete non-starter, and is a farcical attempt to excuse the blatant cheating of a decent player (nothing more), who has pïssed his professional life away and is now trying to stay in the press by claiming to "know things" that he will never tell.

I personally would rather he wrote down the name of every single player that is using, even if it meant that Wigan lost ALL of our players, than for cheats in ANY team to go unpunished.

Good call.
Slipped my memory.

Bob Burdell

I'm truly staggered. Your condoning the use of drugs in sport?

Let me give you some examples of what drugs in sport can do, from a "entertainment sport" riddled with steroid abuse:
Mike Von Erich - 23
Louie Spiccoli - 27
Art Barr - 28
Gino Hernandez - 29
Jay Youngblood - 30
Rick McGraw - 30
Joey Marella - 30
Ed Gatner - 31
Buzz Sawyer - 32
Crash Holly - 32
Kerry Von Erich - 33
D.J. Peterson - 33
Eddie Gilbert - 33
The Renegade - 33
Chris Candido - 33
Test - 33
Adrian Adonis - 34
Gary Albright - 34
Bobby Duncum Jr. - 34
Owen Hart - 34
Yokozuna - 34
Big Dick Dudley - 34
Brian Pillman - 35
Marianna Komlos - 35
Umaga - 36
Pitbull #2 - 36
The Wall/Malice - 36
Emory Hale - 36
Leroy Brown - 38
Mark Curtis - 38
Eddie Guerrero - 38
John Kronus - 38
Davey Boy Smith - 39
Johnny Grunge - 39
Chris Kanyon - 40
Vivian Vachon - 40
Jeep Swenson - 40
Brady Boone - 40
Terry Gordy - 40
Bertha Faye - 40
Billy Joe Travis - 40
Chris Benoit - 40

The scary thing is, that's not even half the list. For those who do not know, these are all deceased former WWF/WWE wrestlers. All died from complications from steroid abuse. The name in bold is The British Bulldog aKa Davey Boy Smith, a Wiganer from Golborne.

Are you seriously saying that all sports governing bodies will legalize the use of steroids?

As for HGH, I'm not quite sure you know exactly what it does so I'll explain for you;

HGH DOES NOT specialize (if you will) in growing muscles/repairing an injury. HGH grows EVERYTHING in your body. You name it, it grows. Now that doesn't sound so bad does it? I know alot of men may love a larger certain body part, however, once the drug starts to grow the organs thats the problem. You see for a fully grown male, if their organs, which are fully grown, grow too quickly or too big they cannot handle the speed of the growth and eventually after abuse, will fail. Your facial features will change, gradually but they will.

HGH is usually prescribed LEGALLY to those with severe growth problems, as because it is produced naturally by the body through the pituitary gland, those with growth problems do not produce enough.

Pretty much the same as steroids, although these aren't naturally produced, are prescribed to people with varying illnesses.

HGH has been linked to carpal tunnel syndrome, arthritis and edema. So priestman, condone steroids/HGH all you wish but the facts are clear for all to see.

Not sure you can mention him tbh. That would have killed anyone.

Didn't see that name TBH mate.

Fair play.

He's held his hands up and said why he took it and that there is others taking it.

I wouldn't expect him to name names but the fact he's stating other players are using it is enough reason for governing bodies to step up and get more testing done.

I've always liked Newton, regardless of the mistake he made.

half the guys in that list arnt SPORTSMEN........they belong to the SPORTS ENTERTAINMENT business , which isnt sport.
now come back with a list of PROPER SPORTSMEN and we might debate further

ive said before...ill say it again
rugby league has no place for drug takers.........lifetime ban ........and we might clean up the sport.

The point is that it is a list from a "sport" with an open drug-taking policy as suggested earlier in the thread.

As there are really only 2 (Wrestling and Body-Building), and most body-builders aren't that well known, this is about the clearest pointer to the amount of damage that would be done if we relax the drug laws in our game.

Like I said earlier, it's a farcical nonsense to even entertain the idea of legalised cheating.

Good player for a while, started to really get on my nerves with being a dirty little thug when he had no need to be, got more and more sick of the penalties (and even more so the stuff that got missed). I was actually happy to see the back of him.

I've never understood the huge affection that some Wigan fans seem to feel for Terry Newton.

There's no question that he was a very talented player, but he was also an awkward character who seemed to get involved in all kinds of scrapes both on and off the field, which did Wigan no good whatsoever.

I have no beef with him personally, but my affections are reserved for those truly great players who wore our colours and at the same time set a great example for the kids who idolised them.

Agree totally, there's no doubting the lad had talent, which is what made his other less desirable character traits and actions all the more frustrating. In the end the at times seemingly almost random acts of snide thuggery totally soured him as a player for me, and I was relieved when he finally went (not to mention that we were desperate to reduce our wage bill at the time to - if people think we had too much money in too few players in the 2006-2008 time frame, then it was nothing compared to while we still had Terry and Faz at the club). For however much I may have not liked Long, Terry's actions were one of the most disgusting things i've seen a player do on a rugby pitch.

I have it's just im the only member

In fairness going back to the likes of Colin Clarke and saying he is a better hooker than say Newton, Lowes, Cunningham or even going back to Dermott is like comparing apples and oranges with the changes in scrums. Requires a different skillset.

I can't believe I read that. Faz and Radders were ten times the player Newton was as was Lam if we are talking all his entire career not just his time at Wigan. Newton virtually always blew it in crucial games (like he did when he broke Long's jaw) and that is the biggest reason he can't ever be seen as a Wigan great IMO never mind the inevitable cloud that hangs over his career due to the way it ended.

Dave

all Newton is doing is getting publicity for his book he has no intention of naming anyone who takes HGH or any other drug just trying to get maxium hype for his book launch

personally i think he and anyone who takes drugs of any kind should be kicked out the sport for good not just two years

and IMO Newton isnt a Wigan legend good player yes tough player yes but legend no way.

Terry Newton, was never and never will be a Wigan legend; even before his drug use came out. He was a reasonable player in his pomp, but he should not be mentioned in the same breath as the likes of Farrell, Rads and Edwards

Terry Newton isn't a Wigan Legend but he was one of the best in his era and like a couple have said on here had one or two seasons where he was arguably the best hooker in the league. Hes a fool for some of the things hes done, including the drugs. Obviously he is still friendly with alot of people in rugby league and it can't be easy when hes getting singled out. Hes trying to make sure people know hes not the only one,without upseting alot of people around him.

I think you’ve got confuse with what I was trying to say.

I wasn’t comparing their past playing histories I was comparing their potential future careers with the club. All four left around the same time but out of the four players only Newton realistically stood a chance of playing anything close to another five years with the club.

No doubt Faz, Radders and Lam were all better players than Newton but they were all also coming to the end of their RL careers and had started to pick up some serious injuries as well. Newton wasn’t at the end of his career his was at his peak and that’s why out of the four he was the biggest loss imo.


I think you’ve got confuse with what I was trying to say.

I wasn’t comparing their past playing histories I was comparing their potential future careers with the club. All four left around the same time but out of the four players only Newton realistically stood a chance of playing anything close to another five years with the club.

No doubt Faz, Radders and Lam were all better players than Newton but they were all also coming to the end of their RL careers and had started to pick up some serious injuries as well. Newton wasn’t at the end of his career his was at his peak and that’s why out of the four he was the biggest loss imo.

thepriestman85, are you on drugs?

The same could be said about Kelvin Skerrett who still to this day holds huge affections from the Wigan faithful. We all like to see abit of biff and the characters that go with it.

Being niggly, dirty and hard players is how Newton and Skerrett played the game from grassroots. It's their Rugby League personality and way of life which lead them both to be reasonable successful players both at club level and internationally, I wouldn't have them any other way (apart from drug taking!).

I remember when we played Halifax in the early 2000's at the JJB. Big Paul Davidson bullying one of one younger players before Newton stepped in and peppered him with punches whilst driving him back around 30 yards to his try line. After getting sin-binned he recieved a standing ovation. Same with famous brawl at Knowsley Road in 2004, Wilkin being typically niggly in the tackle before Newton giving him a good pasting....I wouldn't swap those moments for the world regardless of the outcome.

Instances like that are part and parcel of the game and most fans love to see that type of passion/aggression. Remember Farrell at knowsley road, part of the same incident you're talking about. Apparently Fitzgibbon had 'a word' with James Graham at the weekend. Seuseu and Barrie Mac going at it at the JJB. All teams need an enforcer or someone who'll dish it out when it needs it...

..but the shot Newton put on Long was a disgrace.

Not that I'm justifying someone smashing someone's face but when Kelvin got his jaw broken by Samson (Dean, not the fella from the bible) you could almost say he'd asked for it. Skerrett would have done that to someone else without a second thought. Long would never do that to someone. He has never been a dirty player. Irritating? yes. Dirty? No.