Quote by T.Carney in today's Tele-Footy Confidential

[theGman]

Mate V Mate. In summary the article talks about:
- the mixed emotions Todd will feel when he lines up for the first time against former teamates & buddies Dugan & Jarrod Croker.
- Dugan has experienced behavioural issues of his own since being graded, & Raiders officials had actually planned for the pair to live together until Carney was sacked from the club.
- Carney goes on to say he and Jarrod grew up together in Goulburn, they talk heaps and he considers him one of his best mates.
- Carney closing quote concerned me. "They are both great players & i'd love to play with them again one day"

If that's the case, i desperately hope the trio are playing in RW&B instead of the other way round.

[Cockadoodledoo]

Mate V Mate. In summary the article talks about:
- the mixed emotions Todd will feel when he lines up for the first time against former teamates & buddies Dugan & Jarrod Croker.
- Dugan has experienced behavioural issues of his own since being graded, & Raiders officials had actually planned for the pair to live together until Carney was sacked from the club.
- Carney goes on to say he and Jarrod grew up together in Goulburn, they talk heaps and he considers him one of his best mates.
- Carney closing quote concerned me. "They are both great players & i'd love to play with them again one day"

If that's the case, i desperately hope the trio are playing in RW&B instead of the other way round.

state of origin???

[Guest]

yeh i saw that to

but in this weeks big league he also says he always considered himself a one club man and since he left canberra and got a second chance here he said something along the lines of i got a second chance here and you dont get a third, i dont see myself ever leaving here

which would be fantastic

[theGman]

state of origin???

True, possibly Country Origin. I was thinking week-in, week-out.

[Guest]

state of origin???

I got the impression on his DT blog the other day, that he does want to return to Canberra. When asked by raiders fans he said he has a 3 year contract at the Chooks and is determined to stay here, but my feeling was that he really wants to go home some day.

[Johnny Tobin]

That was a stupid thing to say.

[BUDDY]

Mate V Mate. In summary the article talks about:
- the mixed emotions Todd will feel when he lines up for the first time against former teamates & buddies Dugan & Jarrod Croker.
- Dugan has experienced behavioural issues of his own since being graded, & Raiders officials had actually planned for the pair to live together until Carney was sacked from the club.
- Carney goes on to say he and Jarrod grew up together in Goulburn, they talk heaps and he considers him one of his best mates.
- Carney closing quote concerned me. "They are both great players & i'd love to play with them again one day"

If that's the case, i desperately hope the trio are playing in RW&B instead of the other way round.

That's great. Furner will now be paranoid about Dugan and Croker

[Guest]

Boohoo. They're riding this all the way out until Game Day aren't they?

They're the enemy Todd. Smash 'em.

[stephenj]

when he finishes at easts and retires from footy he can go back to the sludge and coach them?

[Serenader]

Welcome Josh Dugan!!

[Guest]

Todd Carney has put his money where his heart is - in Roosters territory, writes Brad Walter.

On the eve of his first game against the club that sacked him, former Canberra bad boy Todd Carney this week demonstrated that he now considers his long-term future is at the Roosters by buying a unit in Sydney's eastern suburbs.

''All I need is for someone to knock down the Coogee Bay [Hotel] and I'll have a view,'' Carney joked during an interview with the Herald before tonight's SFS match against the Raiders.

It's not just buying the property that underlines his commitment to the club, but its location - within sight of one of Sydney's most in-the-news drinking establishments.

Before Canberra officials tore up the lucrative four-year contract he had signed only months earlier in 2008 following a series of alcohol-related incidents, the talented playmaker would have struggled to walk past without stopping for a drink. Not now, or at least during the season. And it is not only because the 23-year-old realises he is on his last chance in the NRL.

''There is no hiding from what drinking obviously does to your body,'' Carney says. ''If there is one thing I know I won't do during the season, it is drink and things like that. My body feels good, I'm at a good weight and I'm the fittest and strongest I've ever been.

''You also sleep better, that's the biggest thing I have noticed. You don't have that drain of something hanging over your head because you don't know what you have done that night. I still go out with the boys but I probably don't stay out as late as I would have and I know I can wake up the next morning not having to worry.

''I can get up at the same time as if I was training, go and have breakfast and go for a swim or whatever, whereas if I was out the night before I would still be in bed at 1pm and waking up to try and find out if I had done something wrong, or even just with a hangover. My mind is a lot clearer now and that helps me, too, because I know I am focused on what I have to do the next day.''

The wake-up call was not being shown the door by the Raiders but having it slammed shut in his face by British customs officials. Due to convictions for drink-driving, driving without a licence and on motor vehicle-related charges, Carney was refused a visa that would have allowed him to play for Nathan Brown's Huddersfield Giants in the Super League

After being banned from his home town of Goulburn for 12 months by the courts, Carney realised the next door he heard slam could be that of a prison cell.

Until then he always seemed to have options, with St George Illawarra trying to sign him almost as soon as Canberra sacked him, only for the NRL to step in and refuse to register any deal. Manly, Penrith, Canterbury, Wests Tigers, the Roosters and the Warriors also expressed interest at various stages.

''I could have been anywhere really,'' he said. ''I know there was an opportunity as soon as I got sacked to go to the Dragons. Nathan Brown got in contact with my manager but obviously that was blocked really quick.

''Then I signed the three-year deal with Huddersfield with an option to come home after one. I was always probably going to come home after a year if there was the right opportunity, but I could have been in England for the rest of my life. Michael Dobson [is at Hull Kingston Rovers] and I don't think he will come back, he likes it over there and he is playing really good football.

''I was excited about going to England and travelling and playing some football over there. Nathan Brown was the coach and I was looking forward to playing under him, and then the door pretty much slammed in my face. That hit me the most. I didn't know where I would be or whether I would get another opportunity because I was out for 12 months, and I wasn't sure if I could keep building as a player or if I would be good enough to get picked up again.''

For a player earmarked as the next Raiders captain and a future representative star to be lost to the game would have been a tragedy. But after being sacked after a drunken night that also cost former Canberra teammate Bronx Goodwin his contract, it was left to Carney to turn his life around. He believes fate played a role.

''Things happen for a reason,'' he said. ''The night my father died I was supposed to be just arriving in England, but that door closed and I was there to see the last days that he lived. Now I'm here at the Roosters and I'm doing really well and things are better.

''I'm sure everyone would like to turn back the clock and change something they have done wrong, and obviously if I had known back then that I should have given up the drink and gone about things differently I would have done it. If I had, who knows where I would be now?

''I'd say I would still be in Canberra and I know when I signed that four-year deal with the Raiders that I was the long-term captain of the club. Obviously Alan Tongue is still there but after he is finished they said that I was next in line. That is a bit of a disappointing thing for me but I did the wrong thing and that is all that really matters.

''When I first got done drink-driving the club kept me and that is why I signed the four-year deal. I had other offers to go to Penrith and Manly at the time … but I turned my back on that because Canberra had stuck by me for the first few things. I guess that was the last straw.''

After the initial interest from the Dragons, the Bulldogs, Tigers, Warriors and Roosters were all keen to sign him when his 12-month exile in far north Queensland ended. Having almost signed with the Roosters before joining Canberra, he chose them and now wants to remain for the rest of his career.

''I've just bought a unit here this week and I see myself [being] here long term. I know I said that in Canberra but I'm fair dinkum about the changes in my life and the things that brought me unstuck in Canberra I know aren't going to happen here, so I'm confident in saying this is my home now for however long.''

ON HIS SACKING BY THE RAIDERS
''The drink driving was the two main things and there was a lot of little things. It was said that I had 31 chances but I wasn't counting emails that had come into the club about things where I wasn't even in the vicinity of where they happened. If I got a dollar for everyone of them I would be a millionaire now. It just got to the point where a minor slip-up cost me my contract. But if there is one thing out of everything that has happened I would never bag Canberra. At the end of the day I did the wrong thing and they went with their decision.''

ON BEING BANNED FROM HIS HOME TOWN OF GOULBURN
''That was just something that me and the police prosecutor and my mum and sister spoke about. It might have been a bit lighter than sending me to jail so I was happy to get out for 12 months. It was good for me and a good wake-up call. I would rather be banned from Goulburn for 12 months than spend 12 years behind bars.''

ON THE POSSIBILITY OF PLAYING FOR THE RAIDERS AGAIN
''It's always open, but I don't see myself leaving the Roosters, to tell you the truth. I've got a three-year deal at the moment and I want to get through this year first. I didn't think I would handle Sydney at first and obviously Canberra is a lot smaller than Sydney, and a great place to grow up and a great place to start my career. But I don't see myself going back to Canberra.''

ON HOW HE JOINED THE ROOSTERS
''I spoke to a few clubs. I sat down with the Tigers, I had a phone call from the Bulldogs, the Warriors were very keen and the Roosters were really interested. When I was 15 or 16 I nearly came to the Roosters before I moved to Canberra and I knew players that had played here, and they had a young group of players. I was really excited because, obviously, the year that the Roosters had last year I knew I could walk straight in and be at a club that was going to be big on discipline and working hard to change its image, and that was for me too.''

ON THE FUTURE
''I'm confident that if I keep working hard, the way I am, everything I dreamt of and worked hard for will slowly keep coming. It's not just on the field, when you are a good person things come to you and I've noticed that. I don't think I have to prove anything to people, just to myself and the club - they are the ones that support me, and so has my family. ''
__________________

[Vasco]

That was a stupid thing to say.

He isn't exactly intelligent.

[Guest]

I completely understand that he would rather have stayed in Canberra with his mates, and admire him for admitting that. We have him for 3 years and its up to our club to build a team around him that will make him want to stay. I hope they do.