THE greatest irony in all this is that four months ago Nate Myles wanted his Monday drinking buddy Todd Carney sacked from the club for good. As it stands, Roosters chairman Nick Politis is genuinely torn about whether to take that same course of action with his superstar five-eighth, who has been gifted more chances than he deserves.
Politis has not spoken to Carney about this latest transgression but club sources say the troubled superstar left an emotional voice message with him on Tuesday night.
The call has not been returned and that in itself explains the depth of Politis's disappointment. Nobody has backed Todd Carney more than Nick Politis.
While Carney squirms, the multi-millionaire businessman wrestles with the fact he considers Carney a decent guy who can win footy matches on his own - yet seems unconcerned about trashing the brand Politis has worked for decades to build and protect.
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Politis was unavailable for comment last night but the way chief executive Steve Noyce was talking, Carney was hanging on by a thread.
"At times you need to draw a line in the sand and that has probably happened," Noyce said. "The fact is that people choose to betray the trust. This is a team sport and this is a team trust situation. Hindsight is a wonderful thing and if you could change things you'd love to."
Politis does not consider Carney to be an evil soul, but the same could not be said about his opinion of Myles, who he considers a poisonous influence on his beloved club.
That's why he made the decision earlier this year to push him out the door and let him sign with the Titans.
Make no mistake: Myles won't wear the red, white and blue colours again. When Carney and sacked hooker Anthony Watts were caught out having a boozy night in Kings Cross in April, it was Myles - as part of the leadership group - who pushed for Carney to be sacked.Here he was four months later, standing alongside him outside the notorious Courthouse Hotel in Taylor Square, in boardies and thongs - the true hallmarks of a marathon drinking session.
No wonder more than a few Roosters players and officials with long memories were comparing Myles to his former Bulldogs teammate, Willie Mason, who had swung through the eastern suburbs club like a wrecking ball in 2009.
Incredibly, the Roosters had seen the events of Monday night coming. Noyce made the startling admission at a packed doorstep press conference that he had known "for weeks" that Carney had been back on the drink.
It is understood that about a week ago - before the non-drinking pact - Carney and halves partner Mitchell Pearce had drunk heavily before turning up for training the next day.
One man who has been delighting in this fall from grace is Watts, whose contract was finally terminated last week. He has had a spectacular fallout with Carney, and he couldn't help himself from tweeting this on Tuesday: "Hahaha get rid of me ... Are you sure i was the problem- ... Plzzzzzzz!!!!!!"
For months, Watts and his management have been playing hardball with the Roosters, threatening to go public with just how off the rails Carney has been at times.
The reality is Watts has been just one element to influence a club that has gone from grand finalists last year to almost rock-bottom again.
Carney's manager David Riolo admitted on Triple M yesterday that his client was easily led - but that he was a 25-year-old man who should man-up and take responsibility for his own actions.In the past, it's Anthony Watts, Nate Myles and Darius Boyd on last year's Four Nations campaign who have been blamed. Now the buck looks like it might finally rest with Todd Carney.
