Tigers players wish Simona asked for help

Mar 15, 2017 - 4:35 AM Past and present Wests Tigers players have voiced their concern for former teammate Tim Simona, with Chris Lawrence leading the charge of those disappointed he didn't ask for help.

The Tigers vice-captain admitted he was disappointed to learn Simona had placed numerous bets against his own team, but was more concerned about his lack of assistance.

Lawrence played alongside Simona for his entire career, and he was just one of many figures in the game to express his concern for the disgraced centre on Wednesday.

"The whole situation's disappointing," Lawrence said.

"As a player, you don't want to see any player in your side gambling on football, particularly backing against you.

"(But) the fact that none of us knew what was going on so we couldn't help him is the most disappointing part. I know as a club and players, we feel we definitely could've helped the situation if we'd known."

Simona's former skipper, Robbie Farah, said he had kept in contact throughout the difficult times.

Farah did his best to avoid discussing the issues at the Tigers while at Souths training on Wednesday, but stressed the need to protect Simona's welfare.

"Tim Simona is a great friend of mine, I'm still in contact with him making sure he is OK," Farah said.

"First and foremost I think we need to support him in that area. It's obviously a tough time for him and I hope he's OK."

Prop Tim Grant echoed Lawrence's sentiments.

"The most disappointing thing is that he probably wasn't able to speak to us about it," he said.

"I'm not sure the battles he was dealing with, but it would've been good if he spoke to us about it. He's got a long road ahead of him. For me, it's just worrying about his welfare, not as a footy player or anything other than just a human."

The Simona revelations included a confession to illicit-drug use with a number of teammates, and comes on the back of Kyle Lovett pleading guilty to drug possession last year.

But Lawrence denied he had knowledge of teammates using drugs.

"I've been here a long time and never seen anything like that. Obviously Timmy's got mixed up with the wrong crowd and once he's left here, he's hanging out with the wrong people," he said.

NRL stalwart Paul Gallen on Tuesday floated the idea of an immediate two-year ban for players found guilty of using illicit drugs instead of the NRL's current three-strike policy.

However Lawrence, who also said he would have to consider whether he could play alongside Simona in the future, believed players deserved at least one more chance.

He liked the idea of being named after the initial positive test.

"They might make one bad mistake and they're not trying to cheat the game," Lawrence said.

"It's not a conceived effort to try and cheat. It might just be one bad mistake and that might be enough to turn their life around, by the naming and shaming."

Source: AAP