LONDON, April 1, 2008 (AFP) - Rugby League great Martin Offiah has said he is ready to help Dwain Chambers adapt to the 13-man code provided the dope cheat sprinter really is serious about learning the game.

Chambers, 29, who still harbours hopes of competing in the Beijing Olympics in August, started Monday a month's trial with Super League strugglers Castleford and could play for the Yorkshire side against St Helens on Sunday even though he has never previously played either rugby league or rugby union.

Because of his undoubted pace, Chambers - who won the 60 metres silver medal at the recent European Indoor Championships - has been tipped to play on the wing, Offiah's old position.

Pace alone, however, is no guarantee of success and Offiah said Tuesday: 'The first thing I would say to him is 'how serious are you Dwain?'.

'I sat down with him towards the end of last year and suggested that he try his hand at rugby league - but he rejected the idea immediately.

'Now, three or four months on, he has suddenly had a massive change of heart.

'I wouldn't want him wasting my time but if he is serious then of course I will help him.

'He knows how to get hold of me. I scored over 400 tries in my career and there are plenty of things I can say which could help him, like positional play and defending the high ball.

'This is a guy who can run 100 metres in less than 10 seconds so give him the ball and let him show what he can do.'

Chambers, who had a brief flirtation with American football, has served a two-year drugs ban but is currently banned from running in Beijing because of a British Olympic Association by-law, although he has yet to rule out an appeal which could see him take part in the Games.

That has led many to question why he would want to risk injuring himself playing league, particularly as Castleford said Monday his month's trial would be unpaid.

But Offiah said: 'The man has got to earn a living somehow and Beijing might not happen for him anyway.

'If he does well with Castleford then he could earn himself a contract and be a star of Super League.'

Chambers, 29, won the European 100m title in 2002 but in 2003 he tested positive for the anabolic steroid tetrahydrogestrinone (THG), which was supplied to him by Victor Conte, the co-owner of the controversial Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative (BALCO), which also gave banned substances to now jailed US former track queen Marion Jones, when the Briton was training in California.

Conte was jailed in 2005 after admitting distributing steroids.

Chambers, following his ban, was a member of the British team that won the European 4x100m relay title in 2006.

He then angered many within British athletics by suggesting it was impossible to succeed at the highest level without taking drugs.

Castleford, thrashed 50-4 by Bradford on Sunday, are currently bottom of the Super League table.