Carney risky for Roosters
By Chris Wilson | July 18, 2009 09:15pm
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IT'S the NRL marriage that appears doomed to failure, but the Roosters are pushing forward with their commitment to sign league bad boy Todd Carney. Now they'll have to do it without the safety net of a "pre-nup''.
A meeting of NRL CEOs during the week has put responsibility on clubs for signing serial troublemakers, with clubs facing massive fines if those players fall out of line.
The Roosters continue to deny one of the NRL's worst-kept secrets, that they've agreed to a four-year deal with Carney beginning 2010. If that's truly the case, surely then it's time to step away from the altar, because there are plenty of reasons why these two should not come together.
Carney's track record almost reads like the Roosters' rap sheet from this season. Forward Nate Myles recently defecated in a hotel corridor while naked, wh ile Willie Mason was photographed urinating outside on a pub wall.
Carney was sacked from the Raiders last year for allegedly urinating all over a teammate's friend in a nightclub toilet.
In the pre-season, Roosters hooker Jake Friend was pulled over for driving with a blood-alcohol reading more than three times the legal limit.
Carney has twice been charged with drink-driving.
On a completely separate occasion he evaded police in a high-speed pursuit while driving a teammate's car.
Unlicensed.
There's no evidence he was drinking that time - he escaped on foot before his mum made him turn himself in to police hours later.
Earlier this season, the Roosters sent Myles and Mason to park footy for a week because they admitted to breaking the club's alcohol policy and drinking on the wrong day of the week. Despite all his previous indiscretions, Carney was actually offered a lifeline to remain at the Raiders last year if he committed to a rehabilitation plan, including staying away from alcohol.
He refused, and it was at that point the Raiders realised that Carney either could not change, or wasn't willing to. He was sacked, deregistered by the NRL, then blocked from playing in the UK Super League. There's even a court order preventing him from setting foot in his home town of Goulburn.
So how can he be welcomed to Bondi, a club in a culture crisis?
It's one thing to try to reform players already within a club, but to bring one in?
Roosters chief executive Steve Noyce has written to club members outlining plans for cultural change. He says he strongly supports the NRL stance on player misbehaviour, making clubs more accountable. "I don't think we need to single Todd out necessarily in that,'' Noyce said.
"(Roosters recruitment manager) Peter O'Sullivan has spoken to Todd and his manager and it's up to him to continue to play good footy up at Atherton and manage himself off the field, and then if that happens then the club may consider an opportunity for him moving forward. He's been asked to do certain things and to the best of my knowledge he's done those things.''
NRL boss David Gallop admitted any contract between Carney and the Roosters would come with strict warnings. "Clearly we're aware of the connections (between the Roosters and Carney), but until a contract is lodged it's difficult to make it more than a general warning about these types of players,'' Gallop said. "I think it's pretty obvious that he would need to keep his nose clean.''
Good luck Brian Smith.
