Unlimited suspension for Fisher
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Your support makes all the difference.A Workington player has been banned indefinitely after failing three times to attend a hearing into a failed dope test. The utility player, Craig Fisher, tested positive for an unspecified banned substance after a Northern Ford Premiership match last season – an offence which carries a maximum two-year suspension.
Fisher's refusal to turn up has led the Rugby League to take the unprecedented action of imposing an unlimited ban. Under agreements between governing bodies, the ban also applies to other sports. Fisher is thought to have played rugby union recently for Silloth, but is now barred from doing so.
Workington have told him that he will not play for them again. "The guy's burying his head in the sand," said the club's chief executive, John Donovan, who has twice tried to accompany him to hearings in Leeds. "He thinks that if he doesn't turn up it will go away, but it won't."
The game has had a sprinkling of drug-test failures this season. Warrington's David Highton was banned for a year and sacked by his club after taking a banned steroid, while his team-mate, Dave Alstead, is waiting for the result of a second sample after testing positive.
The England World Cup hooker, Paul Rowley, is to return to his home-town club, Leigh. Rowley moved to Halifax in 1994 and spent last season at Huddersfield, but is one of the players leaving the Giants following their relegation from Super League. His signing is being part-funded by the Leigh Independent Supporters' Association.
The Leeds chief executive, Gary Hetherington, says that they have abandoned their interest in signing the New Zealand Test prop, Quentin Pongia, from Sydney.
Castleford have confirmed Gary Mercer, the former Bradford and Warrington player who ended the season playing for Leeds, as assistant coach to Graham Steadman for next season. Mercer was player-coach at Halifax until resigning in mid-season and is expected to bring his long playing career to an end after turning out for Leeds against Australia on 23 October.
The prospect of Sean Long playing for St Helens in their Super League Eliminator final at Wigan tomorrow is fading, with the player admitting that he is not ready for a return after a knee reconstruction. The scrum-half still clings to the hope, however, that he could play in the Grand Final a week later, if Saints get there.
Britain's élite players will take part in a double-header next season, with two County of Origin matches to be played on the Friday and Tuesday on either side of a weekend left clear of Super League games. The move, approved by the Rugby League Council this week, follows the success of a single Yorkshire versus Lancashire match at Headingley this season.
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