The new National Rugby League season was officially launched Wednesday night in Sydney, but Ben Barba who was to have been presented to the league as the face of the their 2013 advertising campaign, was preparing to enter a private clinic to have his gambling and drinking issues assessed.
The brilliant Canterbury fullback's career is at the crossroads as medical experts plot a course of action that will get his life back on track.
Barba's family have closed ranks around him, and along with his club they're working out what's best for him after the unravelling of his domestic life during the off-season.
