The right-back was suspended for 15-months after testing positive for ecstasy at the start of last season.
Former Central Coast Mariners defender Troy Hearfield is hoping the club will offer him a route back to the A-League after he’s served a drug ban.
Hearfield was suspended for 15-months by a Football Federation drugs tribunal after testing positive for ecstasy at the start of last season and won’t be able to return until the middle of February next year.
Despite claiming that his sister spiked his drink the 25-year-old’s failing to return a positive sample after the Mariners’ trip to Melbourne Heart in round two last term, becoming only the second player to do so in League history.
He departed the Bluetongue Stadium by mutual consent in February, although it’s now believed coach Graham Arnold is prepared to offer the right-back an olive branch to resume his career once he’s served the ban.
Hearfield’s advisors have steadily praised the club for the support offered to him following the failed test with his agent Tony Rallis confirming his wish to get back into football.
“Troy completely accepts that he had to face a punishment, and should have been more diligent,” Rallis told the Daily Telegraph on Monday. “He’s serving the penalty and is absolutely determined he will return to the game.
“In no way would we condone drug taking, but Troy had been tested on at least eight occasions before, and never once produced anything positive until this instance.”
The player has been maintaining his fitness with state league team in Newcastle during his enforced downtime, while also working for the sheet metal company run by the family of former Jet Stuart Musialik.
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