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TODD Carney didn’t know it as a kid growing up; but he didn’t have a chance of beating the alcohol problems that lay ahead for him in his hometown of Goulburn and later in Canberra.
Both cities are massive traps for grog monsters. I moved to Goulburn to play rugby league and work as a journalist almost straight out of school and was immediately shocked and confronted by the then rampant drinking culture.
A railway town which was the commercial hub for outlying farming centres like Crookwell, Taralga and Braidwood, there was a pub on every corner. And the most common entertainment in town was a good old-fashioned pub crawl which would normally finish up next to the police station, opposite the railway station, at the Carlton Hotel. It was common place to have an all-nighter at the Carlton with a few policemen as drinking mates.
Is Zorba right - did Carney never stand a chance? Have your say below.
The hotels diminished somewhat when the Hume Highway bypassed Goulburn but the tradition of having a drink in one of the many watering holes hotels on Auburn St continued.
Carney grew up in Goulburn as the larrikin kid with loads of talent who was certain to make it big in league, which in winter was the most popular sport in town. He had the run of the town and a few run-ins to boot as he was growing up. He was a permanent fixture in all NSW age and schoolboy teams and was quickly signed by the NRL team down the highway, the Canberra Raiders.
Canberra didn’t slow down Carney’s drinking. It simply accelerated his problem.
A former international who played in Canberra and later played for Manly told me he had to get out of the place to prevent himself from becoming an alcoholic. “We would train, play football, play golf and drink - I had to leave,” he said.
Carney’s rise in reputation and ability to earn big dollars simply gave him more time to drink and play. His rare talent was the reason he wasn’t shown the door out of the Raiders before he eventually was sacked.
The Canberra chairman John McInytre is a wise old fox. He is a real knockabout who has spent a lifetime in rugby league following on from his dad Les McIntyre who is to Canberra what Ken Arthurson is to Manly.
John McIntyre told me when Carney was given the boot out of Canberra that he would have constant problems with drinking until it pushed him right out of the game. That time is just about up. Which brings me to an important point in this whole messy situation: how much duty of care do football clubs as employers have? Should Carney, with his much-publicised problem, have been allowed to live on his own when he joined the Roosters?
Why wasn’t he at Gosford last weekend watching his teammates play against the Broncos instead of being in Kings Cross with another injured player Anthony Watts? Carney on his own is capable of finding trouble.
When he is with a firecracker like Watts it is a no-brainer!
It has now emerged that Carney said he was going home to Goulburn to visit his mother last weekend, so the trust between player and coach has broken down badly from the much hyped relationship from last year when the Roosters with more than a little help from Carney made the grand final. Sydney-based clubs over a long period of time have had a system where players from the country would be eased into city life by living with a family.
The Bulldogs have always preferred this system and so too have Manly. When Bob Fulton left home as a teenager from Wollongong he stayed with the Knox family in Harbord. When Graham Eadie left Woy Woy he stayed with the Chapman family in Collaroy and when the Stewart brothers left Wollongong to become Sea Eagles they followed the same system and stayed with a family at Belrose.
Sometimes the old way is the best way. I don’t know Todd Carney, but I have walked his beat earlier in life. He needs help to overcome an addiction. That has to be the most important goal he has in his life right now. His life and where it goes is up to him.
The game and what it offers can help and it should and will. From Dally M winner in 2010 to where he is now is a massive fall.
He will be a lonely and troubled soul over the Easter break.
Spare a thought for this brilliant young sportsman who has an addiction that was never going to pass him by. I hope he makes it back to the lofty heights he achieved last year. You have made it back several times Todd and you can do it again. Good luck.
A little more balanced that some of the trash written lately
TODD Carney didn’t know it as a kid growing up; but he didn’t have a chance of beating the alcohol problems that lay ahead for him in his hometown of Goulburn and later in Canberra.
Both cities are massive traps for grog monsters. I moved to Goulburn to play rugby league and work as a journalist almost straight out of school and was immediately shocked and confronted by the then rampant drinking culture.
A railway town which was the commercial hub for outlying farming centres like Crookwell, Taralga and Braidwood, there was a pub on every corner. And the most common entertainment in town was a good old-fashioned pub crawl which would normally finish up next to the police station, opposite the railway station, at the Carlton Hotel. It was common place to have an all-nighter at the Carlton with a few policemen as drinking mates.
Is Zorba right - did Carney never stand a chance? Have your say below.
The hotels diminished somewhat when the Hume Highway bypassed Goulburn but the tradition of having a drink in one of the many watering holes hotels on Auburn St continued.
Carney grew up in Goulburn as the larrikin kid with loads of talent who was certain to make it big in league, which in winter was the most popular sport in town. He had the run of the town and a few run-ins to boot as he was growing up. He was a permanent fixture in all NSW age and schoolboy teams and was quickly signed by the NRL team down the highway, the Canberra Raiders.
Canberra didn’t slow down Carney’s drinking. It simply accelerated his problem.
A former international who played in Canberra and later played for Manly told me he had to get out of the place to prevent himself from becoming an alcoholic. “We would train, play football, play golf and drink - I had to leave,” he said.
Carney’s rise in reputation and ability to earn big dollars simply gave him more time to drink and play. His rare talent was the reason he wasn’t shown the door out of the Raiders before he eventually was sacked.
The Canberra chairman John McInytre is a wise old fox. He is a real knockabout who has spent a lifetime in rugby league following on from his dad Les McIntyre who is to Canberra what Ken Arthurson is to Manly.
John McIntyre told me when Carney was given the boot out of Canberra that he would have constant problems with drinking until it pushed him right out of the game. That time is just about up. Which brings me to an important point in this whole messy situation: how much duty of care do football clubs as employers have? Should Carney, with his much-publicised problem, have been allowed to live on his own when he joined the Roosters?
Why wasn’t he at Gosford last weekend watching his teammates play against the Broncos instead of being in Kings Cross with another injured player Anthony Watts? Carney on his own is capable of finding trouble.
When he is with a firecracker like Watts it is a no-brainer!
It has now emerged that Carney said he was going home to Goulburn to visit his mother last weekend, so the trust between player and coach has broken down badly from the much hyped relationship from last year when the Roosters with more than a little help from Carney made the grand final. Sydney-based clubs over a long period of time have had a system where players from the country would be eased into city life by living with a family.
The Bulldogs have always preferred this system and so too have Manly. When Bob Fulton left home as a teenager from Wollongong he stayed with the Knox family in Harbord. When Graham Eadie left Woy Woy he stayed with the Chapman family in Collaroy and when the Stewart brothers left Wollongong to become Sea Eagles they followed the same system and stayed with a family at Belrose.
Sometimes the old way is the best way. I don’t know Todd Carney, but I have walked his beat earlier in life. He needs help to overcome an addiction. That has to be the most important goal he has in his life right now. His life and where it goes is up to him.
The game and what it offers can help and it should and will. From Dally M winner in 2010 to where he is now is a massive fall.
He will be a lonely and troubled soul over the Easter break.
Spare a thought for this brilliant young sportsman who has an addiction that was never going to pass him by. I hope he makes it back to the lofty heights he achieved last year. You have made it back several times Todd and you can do it again. Good luck.
A little more balanced that some of the trash written lately
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