Stern meetings, self-reflection, tears, denials and the loss of at least
five kilograms due to stress – it’s been a tough fortnight for Josh Addo-Carr.
Yet, the Bulldogs flyer still doesn’t know the extent to which his club was trying to back him through his most testing period.
Addo-Carr’s management has said he has accepted a $682 fine and a three-month suspension from driving after a second test came back positive to cocaine. He will not have to front court.
As this column revealed last week, the club consulted Addo-Carr before getting his test results fast-tracked because its star winger was adamant they would prove his innocence.
What he is unaware of is that the club was going to allow him to play in their final against the Sea Eagles last Sunday, had the result been negative.
Canterbury powerbrokers, led by general manager Phil Gould, were pulling out all the stops to help Addo-Carr get back on the field. At the core of their efforts were conversations with the game’s bosses. Gould approached ARL Commission chairman Peter V’landys to see whether he could invoke a “chairman’s call” to get Addo-Carr brought back into the Bulldogs side if his results had come back negative on the Friday before their clash with the Sea Eagles. Addo-Carr had stood down earlier in the week after his initial roadside positive test became public.
It was a bold play from the Bulldogs, and one that eventually got approval from the NRL, which believed it fell into the category of special circumstances.
The Bulldogs pulled out all the stops to try and get Josh Addo-Carr back on the field.Credit: Getty
There was also a move to contact Manly coach Anthony Seibold to seek his permission if Addo-Carr was going to be available. The plan was to ask Seibold if he would allow Addo-Carr back into the team, provided a certain amount of notice was given before kick-off. Because Addo-Carr returned a positive test, the Seibold chat was put on the backburner. But that is how much work the Bulldogs were putting in behind the scenes to bring him back into their side.
There is a widespread perception the Bulldogs have been unhappy with Addo-Carr for some time. While that is this column’s belief, Canterbury’s actions showed how much they were willing to believe Addo-Carr, and then how much they wanted him to be part of the team.
This column has raised his failure to meet team standards in the past, but Addo-Carr had taken steps to be more professional. However, the stress of the past week or so got to him, and he was late for a meeting. He was the only player to miss the scheduled start time.
It is clear he is not in a good place.
Gould has been supportive of Addo-Carr throughout the past two weeks. It has been made clear to Addo-Carr’s agent, Mario Tartak, in a variety of conversations and meetings that the club has not abandoned him through a range of matters, including this one. But clearly Gould has lost patience with the way Addo-Carr misled the club after his roadside test. It is just a matter of when, not if, he is moved on, but Addo-Carr’s talents mean he will be snapped up by a rival team.
Bulldogs general manager Phil Gould.Credit: Nick Moir
True bromance
We told you earlier in year that James Packer and Nick Politis had ended their long feud with a meeting in Las Vegas at the Wynn Casino. Well, it appears their friendship is getting back to where it was before they fell out.
Packer is back in Sydney and caught up with Roosters chairman and fellow billionaire Politis on Saturday.
Cleary’s golden boot
It is almost a year since Nathan Cleary’s incredible final 17 minutes took the Panthers to their third straight grand final win. And a moment that has not received the recognition it deserves can be highlighted today.
Goal-kicking sharpshooter Daryl Halligan, who coaches the best of the best, has made the observation that Cleary’s conversion of the second-last Panthers try in the 2023 decider was one of the top three kicks he has seen.
Nathan Cleary’s performance in last year’s grand final has been lauded, but his goalkicking has gone relatively unnoticed.Credit: Getty
Cleary’s incredible try-scoring and try-creating period as the Panthers came from 16 points behind, which included a 40-20, has been widely lauded. But his conversion that put the Panthers within striking distance of the Broncos in the dying stages of the game has not received the credit it deserves.
Halligan was talking to this column about the greatest kicks he has seen, and we were focusing on Zac Lomax’s kick from the sideline in Origin III this year to level the scores at 2-all. The Blues went on to win a tough and tight decider 14-4 and take back the Origin shield.
Halligan said that kick was definitely in his top three.
With the Blues down 2-0, they elected to try to level the scores when they received a penalty five minutes into the second half. Perhaps the only person at the ground who thought of a penalty goal at that point was NSW coach Michael Maguire, and it was his call to go for goal when many others thought the Blues should continue attacking. Maguire had seen what Lomax could do with the boot at Blues training under the watch of Halligan.
“I have to admit, I didn’t think it was the right call at the time to ask Zac to try kicking that goal,” Halligan said. “It turned out to be a masterstroke because it brought NSW back in the game, but also had the effect of boosting Zac’s confidence, making him feel like he couldn’t miss a kick.”
Said Maguire: “I knew that Zac would kick it after having watched him during the week and in previous weeks. Not everyone in the coach’s box thought it was a right call, but I wanted to get us back level on the scoreboard at that point and psychologically. I thought it was important for the side. It gave us a huge lift when he kicked it emotionally, and put us in the game.”
And that, in part, is why Halligan rates the Cleary conversion in the grand final so highly.
“It just put Penrith right back into the contest, which allowed them to play with the freedom and intent that they showed when Nathan ended up winning them the game with that try,” Halligan said. “It was one of the great pressure kicks at a great pressure moment.”
And, for the record, the other kick that rounds out Halligan’s top three was Hazem El Masri’s celebrated goal from the sideline against the Knights in Newcastle in 2002, leaving the great Andrew Johns angry and gobsmacked under the posts.
Hayne Plane stalls
Jarryd Hayne has knocked back the chance to play for Fiji, while they have declined his offer to be part of their coaching staff. Hayne was also approached to play for Hills Bulls in the Ron Massey Cup, but he turned them down.
Critta bites back
With their season now over, Bulldogs skipper Stephen Crichton has addressed the attacks on him during the Kyle Flanagan biting affair.
Crichton has paid tribute to the men at the top of his club, Phil Gould and coach Cameron Ciraldo, who got him through a challenging time.
Gould revealed in this column that he stopped Crichton from going to the judiciary to give evidence while the Bulldogs’ season was still very much alive.
Dragons five-eighth Kyle Flanagan was accused of biting Stephen Crichton during this tackle.Credit: Fox Sports
Crichton was well aware of what was being said about him, and where it was coming from, and admitted he was confused he was being made out to be the bad guy for having his nose bitten.
“I don’t know how that was my fault anyways,” he said. “I didn’t really let it affect me.
“And I’ve kind of learned as a young kid coming through early on in my career who to listen to and whose advice really matters to me, which is my family and my team and my coaches as well. Anyone else, I kind of don’t listen to. They don’t get a say in what I do for my job. But everyone’s got an opinion.”
He was grateful for the support of Gould and Ciraldo.
“They’re always there to protect the players and protect our playing group,” he said. “They’re always there to protect those players, and it’s good to have people like that at the club that will go down for us if we are in a situation.”
Credit risk
A video doing the rounds of a leading commentator putting something in his pocket while calling a game is misleading. It is a credit card in the footage he puts in his pocket. The inference that it is something else is not correct.
Fresh eyes for Fatty
Paul Vautin was gutsy on the field as a player, and he still is as a commentator.
He has had two cataract surgeries on his eyes during the last fortnight – the second on his left eye meant he had to pull out of commentary duties for the Cowboys’ elimination final clash with the Knights. He did fly to Sydney for Channel Nine’s coverage of Friday’s Cowboys-Sharks game, however.
The veteran of the small screen noticed issues with his sight during commentary a few weeks ago and he took action.
Surprisingly, Vautin has not been mentioned when it comes to the NRL Hall of Fame. Not only did he captain the Sea Eagles to a premiership, he also made 22 appearances for Queensland and played 13 Tests for Australia. Then there are his deeds as Maroons coach, guiding a team ravaged by Super League to a stunning 3-0 State of Origin series win in 1995.
If that isn’t enough, he was a media trailblazer, hosting a prime-time, Logie-winning program for many years, the Thursday night Footy Show.
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