First news leaked out that chairman Ian Lenagan had talked to New Zealand Test boss Stephen Kearney about the possibility of taking over at the JJB Stadium next year only weeks before the club's most crucial match of the season - the Carnegie Challenge Cup semi-final showdown against Warrington Wolves.

Then it was revealed that star forward Gareth Hock, who has been in a rich vein of form this season, had been charged by the Rugby Football League with anti-doping rule violations.

It follows information received from the UK Sports that there had been an adverse analytical finding in a specimen provided by the player after the engage Super League home game against Salford City Reds on Friday, June 5.

The sample allegedly contained benzoylecgonine - a metabolite of cocaine.

Naturally, Wigan have refused to make any comment until the findings are complete and at this stage it is a case of the player being innocent unless proved otherwise in due course.

The future of Hock's boss Brian Noble is also under the microscope but for entirely different reasons.

Only Noble knows how he felt when he read in one of the RL media outlets that New Zealand international boss Kearney was being touted for the head coaching role in Super League XV and begs the question:

What affect, if any, will it have on the morale of players who are just 80 minutes away from Wembley?

Obviously, Wigan had hoped their inquiry to land the Kiwi coach would have been kept strictly confidential, as it normally is in cases of this kind, but it seems his agent, Chris Orr, spilled the beans so to speak and will no doubt have left Warriors' chairman Lenagan a far from happy chappie.