Zak Hardaker vows to '˜repay the faith Wigan Warriors have shown in me'

Zak Hardaker has vowed to tackle his demons after being given another chance by Wigan Warriors.
Zak HardakerZak Hardaker
Zak Hardaker

Wigan today broke their silence on the issue and revealed he would be staying for 2019, following his drink-driving conviction last week.

Their star-signing, who has yet to play for Wigan, will undergo a period of treatment for his relationship with alcohol.

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And Hardaker says he is determined not to let the Warriors down.

He said: “I’d like to wholeheartedly apologise for my actions.

“The first thing I need to accept is that I have a problem and I’ll be throwing all my efforts into sorting that out.

“I’d like to thank Ian Lenagan, Kris Radlinski and the Wigan club for supporting me through this and I will do everything I can to repay their faith in me.

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“My sole focus now is confronting the issues that have stopped me becoming the player and person I’d like to be.”

After he was arrested for drink-driving – a story broken by Wigantoday.net here – his agent, Craig Harrison, to cut out booze during the season.

“Zak needs to leave the beer alone,” Harrison told Proper Sport radio. “Because every single thing has been related to him having a drink. And that’s been from him being 19 years old.

“I’ve never heard Zak ever, ever get in trouble other than starting with, ‘I went out for a drink’. “That to me is the root of it. That’s a choice Zak has to make.”

Hardaker is currently serving a 14-month doping ban for taking cocaine, in-competition, while at Castleford.

He was previously in hot water while at Leeds.