He was a player of immense skill and ability. Unfortunately he spoiled all that by being one of the worst thugs in the game and then compounded it by taking banned substances...so as a player, you'll forgive me if I dont sing his praises.



As a human being, I am very, very sad for his family and for him that he felt this was the only option left to him.

This thread is for people who want to remember what Terry Newton did for them, which this being a RL forum was mainly entertain them by playing RL to a high standard. If you don't want to do that, fine, but couldn't you just find another thread to post in?

Not really a highlight but something that I will never forget. Brian McDermot punching 3 Leeds players one after the other in a CC Semi final. The shocked and at the same time sort of impressed look on Terry Newton's face was priceless.

You should read the Title of the Thread before posting, this thread is about the highlights (positives) in his career, show some respect to a fellow human being.



Back on topic, I remember quite a few Wigan/saints derby's where TN went out on the pitch to outplay KC, in many games he did.

As I climbed the stairs to bed last night I was thinking of what summed up Newton as a great player. That is exactly the scenario I came up with.

The bottom line is this.





Would you have started this thread had Terry Newton not been found dead yesterday?





I have no idea if you were one of the many that were bagging him out on these very boards when he got busted for taking HGH.



I sincerely hope not.



Otherwise that would make you an even bigger hypocrite than all the many people who have posted on this site (and all the many other threads across the internet) saying what a lovely bloke and a fantastic player he was.





I know little about Terry Newton as a player other than he broke Sean Longs jaw (which I'm told was deemed bad enough to get him banned for almost a year) and was found to have taken human growth hormones.



As a human being I didn't know him. Maybe he was a nice bloke. Maybe he wasn't. I've got no idea. As probably 90% of the people who have posted on this forum have got no idea.



Its just a shame a lot of you didnt show the same compassion towards him on these very same forums when it transpired that he had taken HGH.





The facts are that this poor bloke killed himself and he leaves 2 small children.... who will be devastated beyond belief right now about what happened to their father. I dont know how old they are. Maybe one day they will read this (and the many other) threads started since 1500 hrs yesterday.



But maybe they will also read the ones from last year or whenever it was that were calling for him to be banned from Rugby League forever for taking drugs when he was about as popular round here with you lot as Johnathan Thurston and Billy Slater seem to be.







My thoughts go out to Terry Newtons family for everything thats happened.

I'll be the controversial one and say the Gilmour and Long incidents in 2005 have always stuck in my mind - partly because I was sat in line with the Long hit and remember watching him staggering around afterwards. Thinking he was simply stunned I remember shouting "what day is it Sean??".



At the time of course we had no idea of the extent of either injury and just thought Terry had 'done a job' on two of Saints' best players. As far as I knew he'd simply knocked Gilmour senseless and while it was clear he'd gone late on Long we had no idea it was such a bad injury.



Just as Saints fans hated Newton, we hated Long but likewise that was a reflection of his quality and his character.



In hindsight of course that game wasn't a highlight of his career, he let his passion get the better of him, definitely not his finest moment and he paid the price with the lengthy ban. He was a quality No.9, always seemed to pop up in support and put in a hit or turn play around when it mattered.



Poor Terry.

Due to the injury he sustained v Salford last season not because of Newton.

GB vs Aus, can't remember the year but Tony Smith was doing his annoying thing of 'spelling' hookers from the interchange bench. We'd been doing OK in our sets, making good ground, then Smith took Newton off and suddenly we were going nowhere, just bashing into the Aussie line. Soon as Newton came back on we were going forward again.



I started watching Newton a lot more closely. At every PTB when most dummy halves would be watching the ball, Newton would take a look right and left before picking up the ball. In those two quick glances he was able to take in all the players in each line and with the following pass would pick out the GB player whose opposing tackler was mis-matched.



It might sound daft after the amount of RL I've watched but it was like a Damacene conversion. It suddenly dawned on me that Newton was a lot more than the biff-balling thug I'd always thought.



Let's hope the guy finds the peace in death that seemed to have eluded him in life.

I don't think anybody is making that out.



Internet forums are awful places when it comes to criticising players. It's easy to go along with the hysteria about how Terry Newton could be a "thug" or "drugs cheat", without remembering that he could be an excellent rugby league footballer and an excellent servant to the clubs he represented.

I agree.



The thing that shiits me is where was all the support on this type of forum for the bloke when he really needed it when he tested positive for HGH?



I gather Terry Newton had a Facebook account. Maybe he used to read these boards too and see some of the vile stuff people wrote about him. Didn't see many people saying what a top bloke/wonderful player he was then?







Whenever someone dies it seems to be we get this massive outpouring of grief from people who never knew the person even though many of the same people who are expressing these emotions are the same people who would have called for him to be cast into the pit for all eternity not so long ago.

Barry - you have made your point (and some would say it's a valid one), but maybe you could drop it now?