Dragons says hello Sailor

Wendell Sailor confirms the worst kept secret in the NRL.

Sailor

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As a Bronco Wendell Sailor tormented the Dragons,
now he is joining them [GALLO/GETTY]

Former Australia rugby union international Wendell Sailor joined rugby league club St George-Illawarra Dragons on Monday after completing a two-year doping ban.

Sailor, 33, tested positive for cocaine while playing rugby union for the New South Wales Waratahs in 2006.

Former State of Origin winger will make his rugby league comeback on Saturday for the Dragons feeder club the Shellharbour Marlins and it is unclear how long it will be before he is expected to graduate to the NRL.

“It could take me six weeks, it could take me four weeks, it could take me eight weeks – I’m not sure,” he said.

Before then, however, he plans to begin work with the Sydney club on an anti-drugs campaign – an idea Sailor raised with the club during talks aimed at convincing them to give him an incentive based contract.

“You make mistakes and you have to be accountable,” he said.

“As I tell a lot of young kids, drugs and sport don’t go together and it wasn’t just that for me. [It was] stepping out of that realm of being a professional athlete. I made a monumental mistake and for me, I could go to Timbuktu or go to France and come back over there but I just think I made my mistake here so I want to come back and finish here .. but it’s not going to be easy.”

Dragons chief executive Peter Doust said Sailor would be involved with the Dragons community program to sell his anti-drugs message.

“He convinced us that he was keen to play that sort of role and we have a community program that is a natural fit for what he wants to do off the field,” Doust said.

“There’s nothing like people who have had a poor experience that can communicate that better than most.”

Sailor, who also represented Australia in rugby league before switching to union, will be reunited with his former coach at the Brisbane Broncos, Wayne Bennett, who will take charge at St George-Illawarra next season.

Source: News Agencies