Dave Craven: At a loss to understand why stars take the path to oblivion

Some may never fulfil their potential for a variety of reasons be it misfortune with injuries, a latent lack of confidence or simply bad timing when it comes to their career path.

But others, and these are the ones who irritate me, opt to choose a road which can only end in oblivion, preferring to waste their God-given talent, selfishly squandering it all.

The question is why? I recall speaking to a Super League coach two years ago trying to get some insight as to why Gareth Hock, a supremely gifted player with Wigan and Great Britain whose explosive form led many to believe he was one of the world’s finest second-rows, would ruin it all by snorting cocaine.

As someone who has never taken recreational drugs possibly I am a little naive when it comes to understanding the attraction of what proved his downfall – he was banned for two years – but the matter vexed me.

However, the coach in question responded by saying: ‘Dave, we’re speaking as two right-minded people – don’t forget, some rugby players are not.’

Rugby league is no different to any walk of life; just because some, like me, see it as a massive privilege and honour to fulfil that role, does not mean others feel the same way or see it in such a magnificent light.

I am lucky in the sense I have had a decent upbringing, education and life experiences to know – largely, although far from always – what is, by common consensus, the right thing to do but others will view the same scenario in an entirely different manner and they cannot be faulted for that. They may have not been so fortunate and so re-act in different ways given their own personal mindset.

Just as Hock decided to take cocaine, or Hull FC’s Jordan Tansey apparently sought alcohol too frequently and Paul Cooke frittered away his own quality, so now Martin Gleeson seems on the verge of an exit due to his own personal demons.

In any job, people make mistakes, and life as an RL professional is no different.

Hock, due to make his return later this month, will get a second chance. Wigan have done their utmost to help rehabilitate him over the last two years and, hopefully, that will be rewarded with performances which will see him pay them back in full.

It would be a beacon of hope for everyone if he could. Tansey has had to drop down to Dewsbury in the hope some Super League club will take a chance on him and ensure so much bright promise is not extinguished for good. Cooke is waiting for the phone to ring.

But Gleeson is different. Undoubtedly skilled, the former Huddersfield centre has had a chequered career, being banned for four months for his part in the infamous betting scam with Sean Long while at St Helens and also being caught up in the equally ill-thought out trans-Tasman flight drinking session with his team-mate while on Great Britain duty two years later.

Tony Smith quickly ousted him from Warrington to curb its drinking culture and now Gleeson finds himself embroiled in more lurid problems at Wigan.

Having already allegedly been blackmailed by some members of the town’s murky underworld, showing the sort of people he may be liaising with, he was dropped last week amid rumours of being drunk at training and seems set for the sack.

He turns 31 in May and will point to last season’s Grand Final winners’ ring – his second – and a Challenge Cup victory with St Helens as a successful career but in years to come, and possibly with no Super League club willing to run another risk on him given their duty to the game, I wonder if he will have any regrets?

Probably not. C’est la vie.