Michael Gordon has been found guilty of two drug supply charges after police found MDMA and cocaine in his household in late 2020, the former star taking to Instagram to fire a shot at the media after failing to record a conviction.
The veteran played 261 NRL games across five NRL clubs, the quiet NRL star retiring in 2019 only to return to the back page 12 months later, for entirely different reasons.
A house raid in November, 2020 saw Gordon pinned with MDMA and cocaine, charged with two counts of drug possession and two counts of drug supply, pleading guilty to the former two charges which were then dismissed at Tweed Heads Local Court last Thursday.
While pleading not guilty to the supply charges, magistrate Geoff Dunlevy proved the charges, imposing a one and two year conditional release orders on the former fullback.
While Gordon was found guilty, the one-time Origin winger took to Instagram to vent over the role the media played throughout the past 22 months.
"So finally, after almost two years, this dark cloud which has hung above my shoulders has finally been lifted," Gordon said in the Instagram post.
"I admit I made a mistake. A huge mistake.
"The media headlines from the start painted an unfair and inaccurate portrayal of myself. I was never the kingpin or involved in some cross-border operation. I never supplied to schoolies. It was all simply untrue.
"Because of these earlier media headlines, I had to take my kids out of school. I'd lost my career. I've had two bank accounts shut down. They shut my business account down. I wasn't allowed to volunteer at my sons football. I wasn't allowed to coach my junior club. They harassed my family and my friends.
"The stress the media has put on my family and friends has been horrible and at times unbearable.
"There is so much talk of mental health, but the media certainly didn't care about mine or my families. They could write and say whatever they wanted without any consequence.
I got the result I wanted in court. No fines. No convictions. But I certainly don't feel like a winner in any of this. I'm not for one second trying to play the victim card.
"I made the mistake. But I've had to sit silent for two years and copped it from the media without saying a word publicly.
"I'm seriously blessed with the most amazing family and friends that know the real me. All I want to do now is move on with my life.
"Peace."
Gordon's interim role as head coach of the Tweed Coast Raiders was initially put on hold indefinitely while NSWRL awaited for the case to be finalised, with a verdict on his return to rugby league still out.