Ben Barba

[Lazy J]

its because they arent signed upto WADA like we are \RU and football have lighter bans also for the same reason.

Cocaine is a stimulant and not classed as performance enhancing, it is therefore banned for in competition testing.

here is the wording from WADA
"IN ADDITION TO THE CATEGORIES S0 TO S5 AND M1 TO M3 DEFINED ABOVE, THE FOLLOWING CATEGORIES ARE PROHIBITED IN-COMPETITION:"

linky if your interested https://www.wada-ama.org/sites/default ... st-en.pdf

Barba was tested after the grandfinal, so out of competition, so falls on the governing body to sanction punishment. Hock was caught in competition, so fell foul of the WADA ban.

Personally I think Barba was hard done to, technically he hadn't broken any rules(laws, now that's another matter and down to the legal systems of the country involved)

[pedro]

No not true, Terry Newton was tested out of season, its Barbas second time. First time in the NRL you get counselling, second time you get a ban, they arent in WADA otherwise bans would be flung out left right and center.

[Lazy J]

No not true, Terry Newton was tested out of season, its Barbas second time. First time in the NRL you get counselling, second time you get a ban, they arent in WADA otherwise bans would be flung out left right and center.

Terry, tested positive for human Growth hormone, that's banned full stop. Even if the NRL had signed up to WADA, Barba was still out of competition, cocaine is not on the banned list out of compettion.