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Todd Carney’s manager says winning a wrongful dismissal case against Cronulla isn’t necessarily the start of the disgraced star’s return to the NRL.
The Sharks were deemed by the NRL appeals committee to have failed to follow due process before they sacked Carney after a photo of him attempting to urinate in his mouth appeared on social media last year.
The committee has ruled the Sharks should have allowed Carney to plead his case before the club’s board.
Since the decision Carney has signed a two-year deal with French-based Super League side Catalans and his manager David Riolo says there’s no concrete plans on making a bid to return to Australia.
“The finding’s come down that the decision to sack Todd, the process was flawed, that’s been vindicated,” Riolo told AAP.
“What that means all means mate? We’ll know in time but we’re in no hurry. It’s taken nine months this far to get a result so I don’t think the wheels are turning that quickly.
“It’s a step in a process. I’ve got to meet with Cronulla and talk to them, then obviously we’ve got to talk to the NRL and work out what their thoughts are about his future.
“He’s contracted to Catalans now for two years and, for the moment, that’s where he’s at.”
Sharks captain Paul Gallen said he’d love to see the playmaker back in the NRL but admitted there would have to be conditions put in place.
The key to those would be a ban on alcohol, but Gallen believes the Dally M medallist could adhere to such a restriction.
“If he wants to come back to the NRL, he has to sign a strict contract saying if anything happens that’s (to do with) alcohol-related incidents, you are banned for life,” Gallen told Triple M radio.
“He should be allowed to come back. I want to see him back in the NRL, but I think he needs an absolutely strict contract along those lines that says if you are caught doing any misdemeanour where alcohol is involved then you will be banned from the NRL for life.”
Cronulla have indicated they accept the appeals committee’s decision with chairman Damian Keogh telling News Corp that although the process was flawed, he was confident the final decision to sack Carney was inevitable.
“The big oversight was that someone needed to check that the process being followed was correct,” Keogh said.
“What’s important to remember here is that it’s not a question of the facts, it’s a question of the process, but the reality of the situation is, the decision would likely have been the same.
“I wouldn’t rule out Todd Carney returning to the NRL one day, but from my point of view there has been a lot of water that has flown under the bridge since last June.”
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