Yes you can, don't release a press conference confirming his removal from the squad. It could have been so differently to avoid all of the above, simply don't pick him throughout the tournament and make him train alone or release him and cite an injury problem (that way all parties save face).

and the rumors still get out and more speculation gets said and everyone would be talking about his drug history and thats one story we don't need doing the rounds during the world cup. RFL did the right thing they let people know he was out but didn't chuck him under the bus he has done that to himself.

but what the RFL is done is to only tell half a story.
they have completely mismanaged the whole affair by not naming and shaming all miscreants and showing that a clear, transparent and fair disciplinary action has been taken on all.
by only choosing to come clean on Hock they have created a whole new set of conspiracy theories about the others !
now that hock has publicly stated the extent of the problem, the refusal of the RFL to explain the reasoning fully make them look like amateurs.

That would cause more disruption, if anything those players should be made to come out publicly and apologize as no doubt they have done to team mates. Hock is no longer part of the set up and its been made public which is fair enough, some people said the same about Lenegan before the season.

What are all these faults?
You make it sound like he only gets 1 thing in 10 right.

This is more of a remark for how he handled the media in his first season sorry. Where he would make the team speak at times for them.

It's never his fault. He's complained that others were involved and even argued that the punishment was too harsh, but not once has he apologised to the management, his team mates and the fans for letting them down.

Has he ever shown remorse for his mistakes?

Koukash tweeting made himself. not the RFL, look daft. Seemed unprofessional to me. It's good he's got that kind of attitude to team discipline though considering he's signed Hock, Chase, Smith and Gleeson.

ATEOTD Hock should have considered himself to be on a final warning given that he's already served a 2 year ban for his off field activities and been made to leave a club because he refused to train. The other lads (presumably) had clean records up to that point, so I think it makes sense that Hock was dealt with more harshly. Plus his actions were worse anyway as the other lads at least went to the two training sessions that he endeavoured to miss. Frankly the whole thing stinks though, these lads are in terrible form with one of the biggest games of their careers in a weeks time, no way should they be hitting the town!

Salford have the potential to be an absolute car crash next season. I give Noble 12 games at the most.

He went to the Screws of the World after failing his drug test and whinged about being made an example of, completely ignoring the fact that failing a drug test in competition carries a two year ban.

It's time he grew up and started taking responsibility for his actions rather than pointing the fingers at others.

Dr Cockrash has already started indulging the man-child before he's even played a game for Salford - Hock will throw it back in his face and take the urine.

I am a little surprised to see some having a pop at what seems to indicate people think the coaching staff of England have no respect from the players and this saga highlights this.

If the players did not have any respect for them, they will have significantly more now than they did, and more than they would if they had let it slide.

In regard to the players that went out drinking they should be named and shamed in my opinion. Although it seems that their bahaviour was not as bad as Hocks, they are still disrespectful and arrogant enough to feel it is acceptable to go out on the pop after what must be one of the most humiliating results in rugby league history.

Hock himself I doubt cares that he has been removed from the squad. In spite of the media release if he cared he would have kept his nose clean (intended). How many chances does 1 person think they deserve?

On his day he was a joy to watch but his days were too few and far between. For those expecting him to "smash the Aussies" etc, you are living in a fantasy land.

We have no individuals capable of taking the Aussies apart, our only chance is to do so as a team and Hock has shown he is not a team player time and time again.

Everyone the disobeyed team rules should be ashamed of themselves for letting their team, coach and country down. Hock I doubt has the capacity to feel shame, and if he does his actions seem to indicate otherwise.

None of them should have been out in the first place if it was clearly made out that drinking was not allowed now that they had entered the England camp.

i'm 34, but I still idolise players and look to them to show an example to the youngsters hoping to get into the game by showing them how to. This gives out a poor message that you can "get away" with most things, obviously Hock is exempt for that last comment!

i'm all for naming the other offenders too and in a way Hock has a point about his mistreatment however he also deserves his ban due to his additional discrepancy in this matter.

hock, no matter how poor his form or how badly everyone thinks he is past it, would have wound up the opposition and I think that's why he was originally included, due to his aggressive streak. brain farts aside, he still had something to offer. We probably now only have Westwood in the squad who has that capability to wind up while at the same time excelling in his position, especially since the omissions of peacock and morley.

ferres is a great replacement however, more than likely deserved it in the first place really.

tale of the tape is, the players need to show discipline, respect and do their talking on the pitch not off it. that's all there is to it. and it looks like half of them aren't even capable of that!

a drinks a drink and everyone is entitled to one or two no matter the situation, but when you are told not to, don't!

earn the fans respect guys and make this a competition to remember for the right reasons!

I think the ignoring of the alcohol ban is a reflection on McNamara.
From many England displays its been apparant to me that the players are not playing for him. Italy must have been hard to take.
The RFL appointing McNamara was the initial problem. Then, after one poor display after another retaining him was a further mistake.
Everyone knows from his days at Bradford he's not even a quality SL coach. The idea he has the ability an International coach requires is absurd.

Looks like the others rumoured to be involved have been disciplined and not picked.

No Graham, Hardaker of MM in squad.

And every other player who hasn't made the squad is now implicated by the non naming of the other guilty players involved in the drinking session.
That is why people are questioning the way this has been handled.

McNamara is not the first coach and won't be the last who has had to deal with players ignoring the rules - its hard to think of a coach who has not had to deal with this and to assume this is a reflection on him feels a little unfair.

Correct. Bigger, better and more experienced managers in all sports have been disobeyed by players.

I'm not a massive fan of McNamara but this certainly isn't a stick we should be using to beat him with.

Tell that to the parasitical ambulance chasers in the press foaming at the mouth to try to manufacture problems for the team.
Why do those dried-up-leavings-from-dead-slugs try to cause issues for any GB/England team (of any sport) ahead of any tournament of this kind?


Never mind Leveson, I'd gladly send the lot of 'em off to North Korea on a one way ticket & let's see how they get on there.

A report on the BBC News website (R/L) page states that Steve McNamara walked out of a press conference this afternoon after being asked repeatedly about disciplinary problems within the squad, especially Gareth Hock.

Taken from the article.
McNamara became frustrated as he was questioned on disciplinary issues and said: "I'm not going to answer any more questions on it. If you want to continue asking the questions, then we'll wrap up now."

McNamara briefly went on to talk about the match against Australia but ended the session abruptly when asked about Hock.

I really don't blame him. Lets talk about the up coming game not the Gareth Hock roadshow.

I really do think it's time people started getting behind the team rather than moaning about the coaching, players etc. It really is like Wigan's season all over again. Nowt worse than Rugby fans.

Our press certainly seem to be focussing on the negative on reading todays report. I wonder why they didn't 'probe' the 'goings on' when an Australian player (Josh Papalii)was involved a short while ago?

[urlhttp://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/australian-rugby-league-player-robbed-6201718[/url

More mis-management from the RFL.
If they had made a full statement previously, there would have no need for this. this could have started the press conference stating "weve told you about hock and the others. that done now. lets talk about tomorrow"
by only telling half the story and refusing to explain further about the rest of the details, they have been forced to answer these legitimate questions at the next conference.
what did they expect ? if you leave a journo with such a half baked story, do you expect them to just say "nuff said. over to you RFL"

bunch of amateurs

the first thing that the RFL need to do with any profits from the World Cup is to employ a decent PR guru to stop these stupid, avoidable own goals.

and relax .... feeling better now

hopefully the siege mentality will kick in tomorrow and we'll see a good game.