ZAK TO THE FUTURE

ZAK Hardaker feels the bad days of strife are behind him now he is at Castleford.

The former Man of Steel was almost as well known for off-field misbehaviour as he was on-field brilliance.

Hardaker was turfed out of England’s World Cup squad in 2013 for misbehaviour and ended up being fined, ordered to go on an anger management course and placed on a written warning at Leeds after a student was assaulted.

There was also personal woes, which hit him hard and he admits he struggled to deal with.

But after signing for his home-town club on loan for 2017, Hardaker believes a dose of maturity away from the pitch can get him back towards his best.

He said: “Everything that could go wrong in a rugby career has done.

“I have pretty much scraped the barrel, but I am hoping that is going to help me through hopefully the next 10 years.

“You live and learn. I have had to learn sometimes the hard way, but so be it.

“I have come out the other end pretty well and I just want to continue that road now and hopefully do really well.”

Hardaker spent much of this year on loan at NRL side Penrith and he has revealed he could have stayed in Australia in 2017.

However, his priority was joining Castleford, where he has been reunited with Daryl Powell, who coached him at Featherstone.

And some of his family can expect a quieter life in the coming weeks.

Hardaker added: “My mum works in Castleford so everybody’s been asking if I’m coming here.

“The deal went through on Sunday, but talks have been on-going for a few weeks now.

“There were a few other clubs as well, which I don’t think I was that interested in.

“I was offered the chance to go to Newcastle Knights on loan for a year, but I wasn’t really interested.

“Being out in Australia on my own, it was a bit different to being here.

“Now I live about five minutes up the road, five minutes away from my auntie, five minutes away from my friends.

“Being out there, being a bit secluded and being the only English guy was a bit different.

“I really enjoyed it at Penrith, all the boys were brilliant, the club was fantastic.

“I couldn’t speak highly enough of the club, but personally I think if I had a family member out there or a friend it would have been totally different.

“I could have managed that, but I wanted to come back home and preferably be near home as well.

“Castleford was the perfect fit.”