Zak Hardaker says he “kicked up a bit of fuss” to secure Wigan Warriors exit

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josie andrews
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Zak Hardaker says he “kicked up a bit of fuss” to secure Wigan Warriors exit

Post by josie andrews »

Last year after three and a bit very impressive years at Wigan Warriors Zak Hardaker shocked the league when he returned to former club Leeds Rhinos six years after leaving.

Many reasons were floated around at the time to explain the sudden departure but the main one was a desire to come back to West Yorkshire which is why he ended up at Leeds.

So, many people were surprised when he joined Leigh Leopards ahead of the new season.

However, according to Hardaker on the Fully Game YouTube channel, there was a lot more to his Wigan exit than meets the eye.

Though he admitted that he was initially happy to keep playing at the club:

“Me and my partner at the time had just had a little boy and my rent was up at the end of the year, so I was going to have to rent for the following year but I was going to buy because I like Wigan.

I like Wigan, the club is really good to me, it’s a good set of lads, I think we might win something in the next couple of years and I can see myself signing here till I was about 35 or 36.

“There was a contract on the table for me, another four year deal at 29 which you’d snap their hand off for.”

But then came the need to come home:

But moving back for Christmas she’d got comfortable being around family and friends, which is totally understandable, and she didn’t want to move back.

“I moved back on my own and rented an apartment over there and the distance just started going for me and her and we ended up splitting up, then I ended up staying there and not going home at all so it was a bit of a calamity really.”

Add to that he wanted to play fullback or centre but ended up on the wing and Hardaker wanted to leave:

On the back of that Adrian Lam, who is the coach at Leigh now, kept putting me on the wing. I don’t mind the wing but we had wingers. I was getting kind of p***ed off, my family is back home and I’m living to play full-back or centre and you’re not even picking me.

“I was getting a bit angry and it went on for about three or four weeks and I just lost my head a little bit and said I wanted to go because you’re not playing me where I want to play, I’m not happy away from rugby and the only thing that keeps me sane is rugby so if I’m not playing where I want to play then I don’t want to be here.”

He then said he kicked up a bit of fuss to secure his move to Leeds:

I kicked up a bit of a fuss to leave to go live with my family and then signed at Leeds and then ended up signing at Leigh, which is very weird.”

https://www.seriousaboutrl.com/zak-hard ... xit-71707/
Anyone can support a team when it is winning, that takes no courage.
But to stand behind a team, to defend a team when it is down and really needs you,
that takes a lot of courage. #18thMan
josie andrews
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Re: Zak Hardaker says he “kicked up a bit of fuss” to secure Wigan Warriors exit

Post by josie andrews »

The only thing that’s weird is you!

So the travelling isn’t getting to you now?
Anyone can support a team when it is winning, that takes no courage.
But to stand behind a team, to defend a team when it is down and really needs you,
that takes a lot of courage. #18thMan
josie andrews
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Re: Zak Hardaker says he “kicked up a bit of fuss” to secure Wigan Warriors exit

Post by josie andrews »

Zak Hardaker reveals the full story behind his drink driving arrest

At the end of 2017 Zak Hardaker was hit with a 14-month ban from rugby league after testing positive for a banned substance that saw him miss the Grand Final.

As Castleford Tigers parted company, Wigan Warriors gave him an opportunity and as his ban drew to a close everything looked rosy until Hardaker was charged with drink driving.

Speaking on the Fully Game YouTube channel, Hardaker revealed the whole story:

“I was allowed to train three months before my ban was up, so I could train for three months the season before.

“So I moved over there because I was back home and I got done for drink driving, and that was when I’d just signed at Wigan.

“I’d been at the pub and Man U were playing Derby and my mates a Man U fan, we said we’d have a few pints and it went to three pints, four pints, five pints and we were golfing in the morning.

My clubs were in my car but the game went to penalties and Derby ended up winning so I ended up probably ten pints in. I’ve come out of the pub and seen my car and realised ‘my golf clubs are in there, I’m not leaving them there’.

“That was my thinking, I’m not leaving them there because they’ll get nicked so I jumped in the car and 10 seconds down the road a cop car comes behind me and I got pulled.

“That came out and I got done and Wigan to be fair were really good, they stuck by me and because it was a new club it was the first thing I’d done wrong with them and I think they felt obliged to do it.


“I’ve done it a couple of times, I’ll be honest… I had my mate in the car and I saw these lights behind me come from nowhere so I said to him that I’d indicate left and right and if they followed then I’m going, I’m putting the foot down.

“I was in a Ford Fiesta ST and I don’t know what I was thinking. I turned left right and then put my foot down but there’s bollards at the end of the road, I’ve gone down a one way.

“So I got out of the car and I ran off and ran back home. I got in the shower, brushed my teeth and put my pyjamas on and then the coppers came to my house

He’s knocked on the door and asked if I owned a Ford Fiesta and said how they’d found it down some street, so I just look out for where my cars normally parked and ask if it’s alright. I’m going along with it.

“About five minutes into this conversation and there’s four cop cars outside the house and a couple going up and down the street. As I’m ending the conversation another police car pulls up and a man and women gets out and as soon as I saw her I recognised here because they’d got out and tried to chase me.

“They had a little chat and at that point I get arrested for drink driving and she said she’d seen me. So I went and got changed and the night in the cells it was horrendous.

“I think I got breathalysed about an hour and forty after. Obviously you shouldn’t drink drive but in hindsight if I hadn’t gone home and gone somewhere else, I’d have gotten away with it.

“I’m sat in the cells, I’ve just done the ban, just signed at Wigan as one of the biggest clubs in the world on really good money and a four year deal and I’ve just been done for drink driving, run off and been caught.

“Again it’s just I feel like I’m running into a wall sometimes and I don’t know why I do it to myself

https://www.seriousaboutrl.com/zak-hard ... est-71712/
Anyone can support a team when it is winning, that takes no courage.
But to stand behind a team, to defend a team when it is down and really needs you,
that takes a lot of courage. #18thMan
josie andrews
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Re: Zak Hardaker says he “kicked up a bit of fuss” to secure Wigan Warriors exit

Post by josie andrews »

What a horrible person this guy is. I liked when he was at Leeds as a player, but as a person, not so very much.

I don’t know how the club could have stood by him knowing all this!

What a role model this guy is?

So much for wanting good people at our club!
Anyone can support a team when it is winning, that takes no courage.
But to stand behind a team, to defend a team when it is down and really needs you,
that takes a lot of courage. #18thMan
widdenoldboy
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Re: Zak Hardaker says he “kicked up a bit of fuss” to secure Wigan Warriors exit

Post by widdenoldboy »

load of nonsensical, contradictory cr*p.....
endoman
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Re: Zak Hardaker says he “kicked up a bit of fuss” to secure Wigan Warriors exit

Post by endoman »

His only regret seems to have been getting caught. Odious.
josie andrews
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Re: Zak Hardaker says he “kicked up a bit of fuss” to secure Wigan Warriors exit

Post by josie andrews »

endoman wrote: Wed Mar 29, 2023 12:00 pm His only regret seems to have been getting caught. Odious.
Very much so.
Anyone can support a team when it is winning, that takes no courage.
But to stand behind a team, to defend a team when it is down and really needs you,
that takes a lot of courage. #18thMan
pearsy
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Joined: Mon May 29, 2017 5:21 pm

Re: Zak Hardaker says he “kicked up a bit of fuss” to secure Wigan Warriors exit

Post by pearsy »

Some of the best business Wigan have done over the last couple of years letting him go Won't last long
craigo
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Re: Zak Hardaker says he “kicked up a bit of fuss” to secure Wigan Warriors exit

Post by craigo »

He is a Muppet. I bet he is hard work behind the scenes.
I have supported Wigan RL since the late 80s. First game was a cup tie v Barrow. Also a fan of football and Speedway. Have a varied taste in music.
Barney841
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Joined: Sun Aug 14, 2016 9:24 am

Re: Zak Hardaker says he “kicked up a bit of fuss” to secure Wigan Warriors exit

Post by Barney841 »

Sounds like a child who throws his toys out the pram when he doesn’t get his own way, I work with someone like that, and it’s quite pathetic.
I rated him as a player but when I heard about his drink driving, rating him or not, I wanted his contract ripping up there and then.
He showed he can’t be trusted and this was proven later on in his Wigan career
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