http://foxsports.news.com.au/story/0,8659,11727414-23217,00.html
ANDREW Walker is hating his drug ban-enforced retirement from the NRL and has pleaded for the ARU to let him switch codes so he can play again.
Walker retired last September after testing positive to cocaine while contracted to Manly - an act he calls "stupid" and "one of the worst things I've ever done".
But three months after drawing the curtain on his controversial career, Walker is pleading for another chance.
While the dual international knows his two-year ban means he can't play league again, he is hopeful his former code rugby union will allow him to return - particularly now the new Perth franchise is on the lookout for players.
"I'd love to play rugby, even if it's just here [in Sydney] somewhere," Walker said yesterday.
"I've always been a sporting person and I've always had something to do on the weekend.
"Now I've got nothing.
"I've got to get the fun back into me. If I can do that [play rugby], I'll be more happy.
"I'm not enjoying retirement at all.
"I've done some stupid things in my life, but that [taking cocaine] is one of the worst things I've ever done.
"I'm starting to realise it now. All my mates are training and I'm not with them.
"It's really going to hit me when I go and watch Manly play their first game.
"The enthusiasm to play is still there and it will be until the day I finish."
The announcement just over a week ago that Perth would field a team in 2006 in rugby's new Super 14 competition immediately grabbed Walker's attention.
He said he wouldn't have left the ACT Brumbies to join Manly at the end of 2003 if he had known Perth would be in the competition.
With his manager Wayne Beavis more rugby league-orientated, Walker said he would ask someone with closer rugby ties to see what can be done for him.
"It's all sounding interesting because they have the Super 14 now and the team over in Perth," Walker said.
"I'm pretty sure they'll be looking for players.
"At the moment I'm just working away, but if I can play rugby again, even in the local comp here, I'd love to do it.
"I'm 31 years of age and this year (with Manly) was the fittest I've ever been. There are no worries about my fitness."
Walker played 24 games for the Sea Eagles last season, before taking a call from ASDA while holidaying with his family in Tasmania.
He was told a drug sample taken after the round 24 match against Souths at North Sydney Oval had tested positive for cocaine.
His moment of madness, when he took the drug at a party just days before the game, cost Walker the final year of his contract at Manly, worth a reported $150,000.
News slipped through unnoticed late last month that Walker's B sample had also tested positive.
Walker, though, waived his right to a hearing at the NRL drugs tribunal and subsequently received the mandatory two-year ban.
"There was no real need to fight it, was there?" he said. "I've admitted it and if I didn't admit it, it would just drag on.
"If you've been caught, you've been caught. You can't try and wriggle your way out of it."
Before his B sample came through, Walker played in an Aboriginal rugby league knockout.
He was also reported to have been in the Australian rugby sevens team to play in Dubai recently, but Walker insists he was never part of the side.
The NRL will not assist Walker in his endeavours to play another sport, chief executive David Gallop saying he expected the ARU to "observe" the ban imposed.
An ARU spokesman said there was an internal policy not to register players under suspension in rival sports.
ANDREW Walker is hating his drug ban-enforced retirement from the NRL and has pleaded for the ARU to let him switch codes so he can play again.
Walker retired last September after testing positive to cocaine while contracted to Manly - an act he calls "stupid" and "one of the worst things I've ever done".
But three months after drawing the curtain on his controversial career, Walker is pleading for another chance.
While the dual international knows his two-year ban means he can't play league again, he is hopeful his former code rugby union will allow him to return - particularly now the new Perth franchise is on the lookout for players.
"I'd love to play rugby, even if it's just here [in Sydney] somewhere," Walker said yesterday.
"I've always been a sporting person and I've always had something to do on the weekend.
"Now I've got nothing.
"I've got to get the fun back into me. If I can do that [play rugby], I'll be more happy.
"I'm not enjoying retirement at all.
"I've done some stupid things in my life, but that [taking cocaine] is one of the worst things I've ever done.
"I'm starting to realise it now. All my mates are training and I'm not with them.
"It's really going to hit me when I go and watch Manly play their first game.
"The enthusiasm to play is still there and it will be until the day I finish."
The announcement just over a week ago that Perth would field a team in 2006 in rugby's new Super 14 competition immediately grabbed Walker's attention.
He said he wouldn't have left the ACT Brumbies to join Manly at the end of 2003 if he had known Perth would be in the competition.
With his manager Wayne Beavis more rugby league-orientated, Walker said he would ask someone with closer rugby ties to see what can be done for him.
"It's all sounding interesting because they have the Super 14 now and the team over in Perth," Walker said.
"I'm pretty sure they'll be looking for players.
"At the moment I'm just working away, but if I can play rugby again, even in the local comp here, I'd love to do it.
"I'm 31 years of age and this year (with Manly) was the fittest I've ever been. There are no worries about my fitness."
Walker played 24 games for the Sea Eagles last season, before taking a call from ASDA while holidaying with his family in Tasmania.
He was told a drug sample taken after the round 24 match against Souths at North Sydney Oval had tested positive for cocaine.
His moment of madness, when he took the drug at a party just days before the game, cost Walker the final year of his contract at Manly, worth a reported $150,000.
News slipped through unnoticed late last month that Walker's B sample had also tested positive.
Walker, though, waived his right to a hearing at the NRL drugs tribunal and subsequently received the mandatory two-year ban.
"There was no real need to fight it, was there?" he said. "I've admitted it and if I didn't admit it, it would just drag on.
"If you've been caught, you've been caught. You can't try and wriggle your way out of it."
Before his B sample came through, Walker played in an Aboriginal rugby league knockout.
He was also reported to have been in the Australian rugby sevens team to play in Dubai recently, but Walker insists he was never part of the side.
The NRL will not assist Walker in his endeavours to play another sport, chief executive David Gallop saying he expected the ARU to "observe" the ban imposed.
An ARU spokesman said there was an internal policy not to register players under suspension in rival sports.
