Wicks supplying drugs to Newcastle players.
Ahmed Barakat
TIMING is everything. As the Newcastle Knights prepared to announce Coke as
a new sponsor yesterday, it emerged one of their players had been arrested
by police, who said he was a kingpin in a drugs distribution network
supplying ''coke'' - among other substances - on the North Coast.
The Newcastle Local Court was told yesterday police would submit evidence
Danny Wicks had been supplying drugs to other Newcastle players.
The arrest of the Knights cult figure after a series of dawn raids is the
biggest drugs scandal to hit the code since former Newtown halfback Paul
Hayward was caught with a suitcase of heroin at a Bangkok hotel in 1978.
The six charges of supplying a prohibited substance and two of possession
against Wicks are just the latest in a long list of off-field scandals that
have hit the NRL in the past 12 months.
The year began with Manly and Australian fullback Brett Stewart - the player
anointed as the public face of the game - accused of sexual assault just two
days after launching the season.
Melbourne Storm star Greg Inglis, who became the focus of the NRL's $1.5
million television advertisement campaign after Stewart was edited out, also
has a court case pending over charges of unlawfully assaulting and
recklessly causing injury to his former girlfriend Sally Robinson in August.
Stewart and Inglis have both indicated they will plead not guilty and
Wicks's lawyer, Mark Hanlon, said the 24-year-old prop intended to do the
same.
Wicks remained in custody last night after being unable to raise the $50,000
bail.
His 22-year-old brother, Brett Wicks, and sister-in-law, Tristen Davenport,
were also arrested and each charged with five counts of supplying drugs,
along with another man, Steven Stefanouski, who was charged with one count
of supply.
Police prosecutor Jillian Kelton said the amount of drugs involved was
''twice the trafficable quantity'', and that the supply occurred over a
matter of months.
''We are talking about hundreds of kilos that have been supplied over time
by this offender,'' Ms Kelton said.
The incident comes just two years after Newcastle's greatest player, Andrew
Johns, confessed to having taken drugs all his career, prompting one shocked
official to say: ''I thought we had got rid of the party culture.''
But despite the player welfare programs put in place by the NRL and the
clubs, one established first-grader yesterday told the Herald drug use was
rife in rugby league circles. The player said the use of recreational drugs
such as ecstasy and cocaine was common during the off-season.
''Everyone knows people do it,'' said the source, who insisted he had never
tried the drugs.
Geraint Vincent
> http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/league-news/dark-knight-star-on-dr...
>
> TIMING is everything. As the Newcastle Knights prepared to announce Coke as
> a new sponsor yesterday, it emerged one of their players had been arrested
> by police, who said he was a kingpin in a drugs distribution network
> supplying ''coke'' - among other substances - on the North Coast.
What's with all the character assissination of the poor guy? A
playing career is finite, so he is just setting himself up for life
after football as $100,000 to $200,000+ a year obviously isn't enough
to do much.
viper
"Geraint Vincent" <asr...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:6c3603e0-d240-4881...@a39g2000pre.googlegroups.com...
Robbie O, look what you started. Lovely culture
Viper
Bunny
"Geraint Vincent" <asr...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:6c3603e0-d240-4881...@a39g2000pre.googlegroups.com...
=======================
Maybe he could say he turned to dealing drugs because of the salary cap.
Jeff
"viper" <vi...@rugby.com> wrote in message
news:4b29e481$1...@dnews.tpgi.com.au...
Bloody disgusting culture!
No, really.
Regards,
Craig Field and Kevin McGuinness.