Friday Interview - Terry Newton: Newton will not blow whistle as he decides to come clean

This time, though, it is potentially bearing good news as opposed to the one which ruined his glittering and hard-earned career four months ago.

When Newton opened the first, the then Wakefield hooker was informed he had tested above the baseline level for human growth hormone (hGH), was instantly suspended and had to inform his club and the RFL within 48 hours.

The former Great Britain international would be banned for two years within days and in his brutally honest and controversial autobiography, released tomorrow entitled Coming Clean, he recollects the moment he knew his world had collapsed.

Newton, one of only five players to have featured in every Super League season, had become the first sportsman in the world to be found positive for the banned substance which had previously been deemed undetectable.

His career, in which he had won Challenge Cup finals with Leeds and Wigan, featured in four other Grand Finals and helped his country defeat Australia on foreign soil, was all but over and his reputation irrefutably tarnished.

"There's not been one day that's gone by since that I thought 'why did I do it?'," he told the Yorkshire Post.

"It's affected both my personal life and, obviously, financial life and if I could turn back the clock I would.

"I can't, though. I'm just glad it happened to me and not one of those young kids just starting out."

However, the 31-year-old, who admitted his guilt immediately and saw his six-figure contract at Wakefield torn up, has a chance to start redeeming himself as the recent arrival on his doormat has offered him a get-out clause.

In already-published extracts from his book, the former Leeds and Bradford star claims other Super League and international players are also taking hGH and he has since been asked to turn whistle-blower.

Newton will not do this, unsurprisingly given the fierce loyalty and pride in which his peers and friends such as Adrian Morley, Brian Carney, Paul Deacon and Sean Long write glowingly about him in his book, but he revealed he is willing to work in tandem with the authorities.

His current suspension runs until November, 2011 but such a move may see him return to the game as early as the start of next season.

"The UK Anti-Doping Agency have been in touch and the RFL are going to contact me in the next few weeks to have a meeting," said Newton, who has agreed to random drug tests in the interim.

"If I can help, the UKAD are talking about reducing the ban and they may be able to do something.

"If I can keep fit over these 12 months, who knows? Hopefully, I can help the RFL in some way and I want to.

"I'm not going to name names but I've spent a lot of time off the field with bans and being in trouble with the law; maybe I can help young players choose a different path in life."

Newton says a "good" Championship club from the other side of the Pennines has already approached him for when his ban expires in readiness for the 2012 season, Widnes and Leigh the likely suitors.

"They are very interested in doing something, not just playing-wise but working alongside their younger players, too," he said.

In the meantime, though, Newton is finding himself spending a lot of time in his local pub in home-town Wigan.

It is not because he has turned to drink during the recent troubles, far from it, but taken ownership of the Ben Jonson.

"I always wanted to run a pub when I finished rugby," he said, quickly adding that the already-titled establishment is not named after the Canadian drugs cheat.

"Obviously, it's happened sooner than I thought but everything's going well and there's a lot of support from local people

"My father-in-law has been in the pub game for 25 years and he, my wife and her mum are all involved.

"We put the hours in ourself behind the bar and we''re doing okay. We only open at 4pm and it's a bit quiet during the week but on a weekend you're fighting for a seat."

Tonight is the first Friday of the Super League season where there has been no game on

the fixture list but that is something which Newton has had to learn to accept personally for the last 18 weeks since his second and final appearance for Wakefield in a win over Leeds on February 14.

Newton says he only started taking hRH after Bradford paid him up last summer following a broken cheekbone and in readiness for his new start at Wakefield.

He always despised cheats and had seen what effect drugs could have, having seen his younger sister die less than a year previously following a heroin addiction.

But Newton – who battled depression after Leanne's death – saw hRH as something which, instead of damaging him, would actually help him with its powers of recovery.

He could have eased through the final two years of his Super League career at Wakefield but, with the fiercely competitive streak that had always hallmarked his game, Newton could never envisage going along half-hearted and did not want to be overtaken by younger players he felt were using the hormone.

He realised it was no excuse and now lives with the regret of seeing his character permanently stained.

His one hope is others – and he thinks there could be as many as 100 – have since stopped using the substance.

"If players haven't learned off what's happened to me then they are very foolish," said Newton, who is maintaining his fitness with regular sessions in a boxing gym ready for his return.

"They deserve to be caught and banned."

The father-of-two has found unwavering support from his wife Stacey and many players, including ex-England captain Morley, who started his career alongside Newton at Leeds.

"There's a lot out there who I thought would have washed their hands of me completely," he explained.

"Moz is so against drugs I thought that would be the case. He was in tears when he came to see me but he's stood by me and it shows what a great friend and person he is. There are others, too.

"I miss the crack with the players and – although I'm not actually missing being stuck in traffic for three-and-a-half hours each day travelling over to Yorkshire clubs – I am missing actually playing the game."

Terry Newton's autobiography, Coming Clean (17.99), is published by Vertical Editions and is available from book shops from tomorrow.