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The points that matter for Todd Carney aren’t those on the field this season. It isn’t about proving a point to people who already don’t think too highly of him either. The only points that matter in 2011 are those contained in a plan that is sitting on the desk of NRL CEO David Gallop.
If Carney fails from this point on then he only has himself to blame.
That’s not a throw away line either. If he goes from Dally M medallist to former footballer in less than 12-months it will be because he couldn’t stick to the guidelines that he set before himself.
When the Roosters five-eighth walked into NRL headquarters yesterday he must have felt sick in the stomach. There was the familiar click of the photographer’s camera and the microphones stuck in his face.
It was a scene he thought he’d never have to face again. He was back in front of the media apologising for yet another moment of madness.
“I understand that I’ve done the wrong thing once again and I’ve got a plan in front of me now that I can work through and it’s something that I’ll work through to get myself right,” he said.
Carney was pulled over at 7am in Sydney last Saturday. He blew 0.052. The limit for Carney, who is on his provisional license, is zero.
In his meeting with Gallop, which you would’ve paid top dollar to sit in on, he put forward a plan to keep his life on track.
This isn’t about football. We all know Carney is an amazing player. This is about the life of a young man who hasn’t yet realised the answer to the following equation.
Carney + alcohol = disaster.
The Roosters say Carney worked in consultation with the club to come up with the plan. Now he’ll live and die by his own rules.
The ice he is treading on is paper-thin. It won’t even take another alcohol fuelled incident to end his career, according to the NRL and the Roosters.
If he fails to comply with any of the five points then his contract will be run through the shredder.
“He is aware of the ramifications of not completing this program and it is now up to him to put these words into action,” Roosters CEO Steve Noyce said.
Gallop also didn’t mince words.
“Todd has to understand that the next suspension he faces for off-field misconduct and in particular alcohol abuse will go far beyond one or two matches, both for his benefit and the benefit of the game,” he said.
“It is now very much up to Todd to determine whether this is a stumble along the way or a complete loss of direction.”
“If it is the latter then he has to understand that there is simply no place in the game for him.”
That’s more than the $10,000 question. If Carney has a problem with alcohol then admitting it is half the battle. Alcoholism is a disease that is deadly. It claims lives and the person suffering with it is often treated not as a patient, but a moron.
It’s too easy to write him off as just another NRL bad-boy. It’s harder to accept that a guy who appears bullet proof on the field is just as weak as everyone else.
He spoke on his return to the NRL about losing tags like “serial offender” and “disgraced footballer”. He longed for the day when the only thing before his name in the papers was his position on the field.
He once again has to go about winning over the cynics, but if he does and sees out his career without another hiccup then fans should be prepared to forgive and forget.
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