Was Todd Carney's punishment too harsh?

I am not a sharks supporter, but think the sacking of carney, over a photo that is private, and was leeked by some idiot, is ridiculous to the extreme, where is the loyalty for carney, instead of sacking the bloke how about some damage control to help him. So he aimed his own pee at his mouth, big deal, he isn't a woman basher or rapist, what he done wasn't even illegal. The only thing he done wrong was not to tell his so called mate to delete the photo straight away. No normal human being who has a life is worried about some young bloke peeing on himself. Too much is read into something so petty.

Wake up and smell the urine Carney. It is not 1979 anymore. Any professional person these days who earns $650,000 a year has to earn it by living their life as a walking advertisement for the people who pay their wages. Not just on the field, if you can't handle alcohol or have a drug problem you can't have that responsibility and you will have to play park football these days. Go play for the Gymea Goanna's and drink your 20 beers (and urine) The sharks have had trouble getting sponsors recently and this is the last thing they needed, Carney had to be sacked and quickly to save any sponsors walking out. You have to be a combination of a footballer and a marketing machine these days.Carney has one down pat. Right or wrong welcome to the new age.

no set up at all he did it mate the dude that took the pic sent it to his brother who then somehow lost his phone at the races which was somehow then found by a raiders supporter who posted it on line - too many holes in that story i suggest. man if anyone does what carney did they need to be admitted - carney really needs help

it was a set-up the photo is not even real

I'm a huge fan of tod, he is one of the top ten players in the nrl, but he puts the pi$$ before football so to speak..

i dont think some of these players have a brain - 650 or 750k a year- half of them would be lucky to get a labourers job- unless Carney can pick up another gig he will have to get a real job- too much time on their hands i say about time nrl players mix training/playing with either part time work or part time study and the nrl make it complusory.

I'd prefer Todd to Dugan on the morality scale. I don't think there are too many bad things about Todd, he just loses 60 IQ points when on the drink, and that's a disaster waiting to happen. Maybe I could give him the legal drugs I take for arthritis, they make alcohol taste like urine. Okay, maybe not such a good idea.

Joe, This is 2014, not 1964. Carney is not being paid a few bob plus free lambchops at the local butcher shop and a council job. His action(s) have provided terrible publicity for the game and like it or not the NRL is in a tough business competing for the sporting dollar and, in the longer term, for its very existence. it would be hard to measure how many fans he has turned off, how much gate takings, club memorabilia sales and sponsorship he has lost, let alone how many potential young players have been lost to the game by parents being disgusted by his antics. Would you like your kids to look at that photo and consider it the action of a role model?

I don't think it was a brave decision by Cronulla, they're at the bottom of the ladder and risk nothing by getting rid of a 'star' player. Their brand is already significantly damaged. At least this will take some of the focus off Paul Gallen, Cronulla and the ASADA investigation for a few days.

How I long for the days when having 20million people see a photo of you drinking your own piss would be punishment enough.

Joe...........obviously you are not an employer of staff with a reputation to uphold else you would see the problem immediately.

Judging by the outcry in multiple articles regarding this Carney guy on TheRoar you'd think he killed somebody. Im still not sure what he did? post a stupid photo online?. Sure, he's an idiot but so what? He's not hurting anybody & seems as though he's a decent player, so let him play. I dont know, you get all these "holier than thou" comments from guys who probably have done stuff just as stupid in their time Let the guy play & if he's performing adequately on the field & not hurting others off it, I dont see a problem.

Yeah rumour has it as well damien keogh (the sharks chairman) had Carney in his crosshairs for a while and was just waiting for an excuse to pop up. Also A lot of reportsare coming out now saying he has been warned twice by the club this year for his off field behaviour. Sounds like it was only a matter of time before he was going to be sacked.

I am one of todds biggest fans but this was always going to happen, i was warned by an old friend of his 4 weeks ago that todd would not see his contract out as he is a loose cannon, i dismissed it at the time, i think the sharks showed some b#lls sacking him!

I call a spade a spade. If i see good stuff Ill praise it. If I see rot Ill call it rot. Ill praise Semi Radradra, I want to see him in Origin. He is clearly the best winger in the league at the moment.

He needs one more tatt, across his forehead; "I am a complete d***head" - now that would be a suitable punishment.

I do question whether you even follow rugby league. No offense but I don't think i've seen you write a single positive comment..

It sure doesn't help the brand,but it wont make me remove the club sticker from my car,or wearing the cap.In fact I dare say having Carney out of the club may assist securing a major sponsor down the line. Brands can re energise such as the Bulldogs and the Storm. Any atrocity includuing drug taking/fraude etc committed by footballers,police,lawyers,armed services,clergy,schoolteachers swimmers harms the organisation ,but people with any ounce of grey matter understands it is the minority involved.And whilst human life exists on this planet,there will be those who step outside the bounds of civil decency. Unfortunately.

The real question to ask isnt about Todd Carney. Its about damage to the NRL brand. We are all tainted by this. This is why I dont wear NRL gear in public. Its embarassing.