Former New Zealand international makes extraordinary Super League drug claim

A former Super League club captain has made an extraordinary claim about the use of drugs in the competition in a warning to incoming Wakefield Trinity man Roger Tuivasa-Sheck.

Ex-New Zealand international Elijah Taylor was one of the first to react to reports that NRL star Tuivasa-Sheck could be making the switch from New Zealand Warriors to Wakefield Trinity.

Since those reports and Taylor’s reaction, Tuivasa-Sheck has confirmed via social media that he will be joining Trinity on a two-year deal in a major coup for Super League, however, Taylor’s warnings and claims cannot be ignored.

Posting on his TikTok platform @footyhacks.co, Taylor outlined ‘three reasons not to go to the Super League from the NRL’ with the first of those being the lack of a Rugby League Player’s Association or RLPA, as in the NRL.

“Don’t do it,” Taylor warned when talking about a move to Super League, adding: “There is no RLPA. You won’t realise how much the RLPA does for NRL players until you get to Super League.”

Ex-Super League captain makes shocking drug claim

Taylor continued by explaining what provisions players don’t get in Super League compared to what they are entitled to in the NRL, namely a retirement fund and access to money for education.

He said: “I’m talking there’s no retirement fund of $13,000 a year. There’s no educational allowance of $7,000 a year that you get in the NRL

“There’s no voice at the table for CBA (Collective Bargaining Agreement) or TV deal negotiations. It’s crazy.”

Taylor also noted player welfare, pointing to his former club Salford Red Devils as an example: “If you don’t get paid, no one is coming to save you. Look what happened at Salford.

“All the boys that left Salford last year weren’t getting paid. Super League weren’t going to top up their salaries.”

However, it was his final warning that is the most severe and most worrying as Taylor went on to allege that a ‘lot of boys’ are using performance-enhancing drugs.

Taylor claimed: “It’s an uneven playing field. There’s a lot of boys that are on the gear, I know what I know and I heard what I heard.

“A lot of boys are on the secret sauce, peppies (peptides) or growth (HGH).”

Taylor also claimed that he had played five games in just 14 days though that was untrue with the busiest spell of his career in Super League being three games in ten days.

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