Canterbury’s board have vowed to “vigorously defend” themselves against a $4 million civil case from former player Jackson Topine, amid claims he suffered a psychiatric injury while at the NRL club.
The Bulldogs board met on Wednesday night, one day after Topine’s legal team submitted a statement of claims to the NSW Supreme Court against the Belmore outfit.
At the heart of the issue remains a session last July when Topine claims he was forced to wrestle up to 35 teammates each in quick succession.
In the statement of claims seen by AAP, Topine’s legal representatives say he was directed to do so by Bulldogs high-performance manager Travis Touma, as a result of being eight to 10 minutes late for a 90-minute wrestling session.
In the statement, Topine’s legal team say the punishment was “unlawful” and a breach of procedural fairness, amounting to corporal punishment.
Topine will also claim he suffered “psychiatric injury, deprivation of liberty, humiliation, indignity, physical exhaustion, physical discomfort, anxiety, embarrassment and fear” as a result of the session.
Premiership-winning Bulldogs five-eighth Braith Anasta said “it’s crazy” when asked about the situation on NRL360 on Wednesday night.
“I can’t get my head around it. This guy has rocked up to training late so when you rock up to training late, you get tough discipline. You get taught not to let your teammates down because if you rock up late in the game you cost your team. This happens every day with every club and every player,” he said.
“If they were doing fitness, that’s what it would have been, that is the standards that are set. You get punished for that, every player knows if you rock up to training late you get punished. On this day the Bulldogs are wrestling, so the punishment was wrestling.”
Topine has not added to his 16 NRL games since the incident and the statement of claims says he has “suffered ongoing incapacity to play the game”.
It also says the Bulldogs should not have stopped paying his wages last November, with the fallout impacting the 22-year-old’s ability to play elsewhere beyond this year.
The case is expected to be heard in the NSW Supreme Court in June with Topine pursuing up to $4 million in damages based on the average wage of players across a career span.
Canterbury moved to defend their handling of player welfare on Wednesday, while the club also stated they would deny some of Topine’s claims.
Jackson Topine. (Photo by Albert Perez/Getty Images)
“The board unanimously agreed that it would vigorously defend the club and its employee Travis Touma against the claim lodged today by a former player,” chairman Adam Drussi said on Wednesday night.
“The club will be making no further comments at this time.”
Topine’s legal team also claim he required assistance standing and walking afterwards, but Touma told teammates not to “congratulate or help him”.
The Rugby League Players’ Association are also monitoring the situation, while not directly involved in the civil case.
“We have engaged with Jackson and his management in relation to his wellbeing and contractual rights and entitlements, and they are aware of the support available from the RLPA,” an RLPA spokesman told AAP.
“If there are alleged breaches of the CBA and NRL Rules, we would expect those to be investigated by the NRL in accordance with the CBA and NRL Rules.
“To the best of our knowledge, there has been no formal investigation by the NRL into Jackson’s issue.”
It comes as Sydney Roosters coach Trent Robinson launched a defence of his long-time confidant in Touma on Wednesday.
Touma is one of the NRL’s most experienced head trainers, winning three premierships under Robinson at the Roosters before moving to South Sydney in 2022 and Canterbury in 2023.
He remains employed by the Bulldogs under Cameron Ciraldo this year.
“Travis is a very experienced trainer and a really outstanding person,” Robinson said on Wednesday.
“His care factor is as high as I’ve seen in any staff member at any club I’ve been involved with.
“I can’t speak to the incident, but I know who Travis is and the quality of the person he is and the care that he has for his players.”
Trindall ban won’t derail Sharks, says Hynes
Nicho Hynes insists Cronulla’s season will not be derailed by Braydon Trindall’s driving charges, as the Sharks prepare for time without their in-form five-eighth.
Trindall remained absent from Cronulla training on Wednesday, after he allegedly failed drug and alcohol tests while driving on an expired licence on Monday.
The 24-year-old continues to await the results of a secondary sample of his drug test, after cocaine is believed to have been found in his system.
Cronulla players have reached out to Trindall, who allegedly returned a breath-analysis reading of more than double the legal limit at 0.124.
Trindall is due to face court on May 17, but at this stage there is no timeline set on his NRL return.
Sitting first on the ladder, the drama has hit the Sharks when they need it least.
Daniel Atkinson will start in an NRL match for the first time against Canberra, with the 23-year-old only having previously played as a bench utility.
But Hynes, who also spent time training with Atkinson at their former club in Melbourne, was adamant it would not stunt the Sharks’ surge.
“We work so hard to get our club culture to where it is. You want to build a next-man-up mentality at every club, and certainly at this club,” Hynes said.
“It takes a whole squad to win a premiership or be up there with the top teams in the competition, and to do that you have to create a good culture.
“You have to have a whole 30-man squad buying in. I feel like we’ve got that squad. We’re buying into what Fitzy (coach Craig Fitzgibbon) believes in.
“It’s transitioning down to our leaders and into the team. We’ve worked really hard to get to this position, and it’s just going to build character.”
Hynes said he would take on more leadership on the field without Trindall, and try to free up Atkinson to play his own game as much as possible.
But he said his thoughts remained with Trindall, who Hynes believed had given up alcohol at the start of his first season as a first-choice starting half.
(Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)
“He’s worked extremely hard this off-season, and the first seven rounds we played in,” Hynes said.
“I think he stayed off the alcohol and stopped partying and doing those young things for a good while there.
“Tricky is a really good guy. He knows how to have a good time but when to rein it in as well.
“He’s usually looking after himself in that capacity. He’s hurting at the moment, and we all are for him too.”
Cronulla captain Cameron McInnes said the club would fight through the adversity, but claimed everyone had to wear Trindall’s charges.
“All of our actions reflect on each other,” McInnes said. “That’s our mindset as a team. If one of us slips up, there’s always something big or small we could have done. Unfortunately that wasn’t the case the other night. Sometimes it’s out of your control.”
with AAP
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
Not really. Most on that show are morons with woeful takes on just about anything…
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
Isn’t extras typically a disciplinary method for not meeting performance levels though - ie productive?
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
Baz not sure if you know much about WWE. But many think Janel Grant did things with Vince McMahon willingly…
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
I think you’re misrepresenting what I said. I don’t expect Bellamy coming in and saying that. I’m saying he doesn’t need to yell to be effective. He can come in at half time and calmly say “that’s rubbish, you are being slow in defence and grabbing at air and if I see more of that I won’t hesitate to replace you” and it will be just as effective as screaming like a lunatic. Nothing idealistic about that and only thing stopping it is Bellyache’s self control, and an industry that allows him and others to behave like dinosaurs. Players are run into the ground all the time. Doesn’t make it smart S&C. Probably unrelated to the high injury rates in the modern game….
Doogie
Roar Rookie
Bad hazing used to occur every day in the military, until it didn't. It happens every day is the crappiest argument ever. Not my place to say it should happen, but the 'everyone does it' argument just doesn't cut it. Disclaimer - Dogs fan.
Doogie
Roar Rookie
Disclaimer. Dogs supporter. Coroner looked very hard and found Tittmuss had an underlying health condition (aorta thickening I think) which may have added to the incident. I believe it was 24C at the time of training so doing the pre-season hard yards at that temp wasn't unusual. The q became whether the Seagles should have known about the condition and the answer ended up being no. Have the view to let the courts sort it. Don't think anyone has enough deets to make any sort of judgement at this stage.
Maxtruck
Roar Rookie
I suspect Anasta's position might be different if Topine was one of the players he manages. 6% of $4mill might sway his opinion
Dutski
Roar Guru
Absolutely
The Barry
Roar Guru
It’s not on me to demonstrate anything. I mean you’ve just said Topine’s case was on 360 and Titmuss’ wasn’t I follow league pretty closely. What happened to Titmuss or the young cowboys player a year or two ago haven’t received close to the attention Topine has. That’s my informed opinion. I don’t need to demonstrate anything…
Short Memory
Roar Rookie
Think up an appropriate penalty for lateness - even easier.
The Barry
Roar Guru
Yeah, you said it was pretty common in the 70s and 80s. Can you give me one example of a coach slapping a player n the sideline in the 70s and 80s? He wasn’t made to wrestle 20 odd people. You’re firing off without knowing even the basic facts that have been made public
The Barry
Roar Guru
Again, it’s got nothing to do with bias. I’m more on the front foot because it is the Dogs, but at the same time, I’ll accept whatever punishment is handed down if the Dogs have done the wrong thing As per my original comment, this is bigger than the Bulldogs and has ramifications far greater than whatever the Bulldogs have to pay These aren’t practices unique to the Bulldogs If the Bulldogs have gone too far with 5-6 minutes of wrestling against a dozen team mates - which I can understand they may have - then what’s the acceptable level? Genuine question, please answer. Is four minutes ok? One minute? The whole practice should be banned? What about having to do extra weights or laps or sprints as discipline while team mates watch on? I can understand people not liking this, but I haven’t heard one suggestion about where the line is drawn
The Barry
Roar Guru
If they were doing spring training, he works have had to do extra sprints One, you cannot possibly know that. All of a sudden you are now making assumptions without any evidence. Yeah, I do know that… that’s happened in rugby league forever. I copped it as an amateur player. EVERYONE knows that. You got offended when I said it doesn’t sound like you know what happens at rugby league clubs… but here you go again
The Barry
Roar Guru
Was it rude? What I meant by I don’t mean to be rude, is that I’m not insulting you for insult’s sake. It’s a genuine Do you do that in your line of work then? Do you do that in your line of work then? That’s just a silly question. I’m not a professional rugby league player. You’ve said a few times ‘every workplace is different’. I’ve said you can’t treat a rugby league team like a ‘normal’ workplace. Why would I be dishing out physical punishments for people showing up late in an office? But a huge part of building organisational culture is not allowing behaviours that don’t fit within that culture or the values I work in WHS, workers’ comp and HR… and I’ve worked as a consultant 100% yelling at an employee would be a breach of fair work and WHS legislation and would mean an automatic acceptance of a workers’ comp claim, regardless of the circumstances You’re doing it again… on one hand you’re saying just because shark baiting is accepted practice, it’s not right. Also saying yelling at an employee ( or consultant) is accepted practice, but it’s fine
Full Credit to the Boys
Roar Rookie
We shall see. The fulcrum to your spectrum constantly shifts as understanding and social awareness changes. I doubt Lam was the first man of colour to be called a monkey. But he took a stand, he said no more, and behaviour will change as a result. We have a young man who died recently probably because he was afraid of looking soft amongst his peers. He worked himself to death. The group is a powerful force. My feeling is that this was ill conceived bullying behaviour and has clearly affected a young man who hasn’t played since. Who knows what circumstances he comes from, and how that kind of group pressure impacts. Anyway, I’ve got to pack and board a plane to go live with Rajasthani gypsies and then Tibetan refugees. The only Panthers fan amongst 1.6 billion Indians!
Cam
Roar Rookie
It needs to be taken into consideration that Topine wasn't an accountant who arrived 20 minutes late to H&R Block and was then forced into some type of "fight club" style of punishment. Topine is professional athlete competing in a brutal contact sport. He was at wrestling practice and had to do extra reps for not meeting team standards. If he gets $4m for that, the world has officially gone mad.
Tufanooo
Roar Rookie
"I don't mean to be rude..." but then mean to be rude. It’s a cornerstone of building culture Do you do that in your line of work then? You say I'm having a bob each way, but then out you go and do the same. Clearly it isn't acceptable in your workplace, so you can't say it's acceptable because football is different. Yelling at employees is not always considered bullying btw. Ever worked in consulting?
Tufanooo
Roar Rookie
The only thing in question here is the scale of what Topine was put through but Topine knew this stuff could happen and signed up for it. What needs to be seen is the scale. I'm sorry, but if it is ultimately proven that the scale was too much, then Topine could NOT have reasonably forseen this stuff would happen when he signed up to it, and thus doesn't have the luxury of making a reasoned choice at that moment in time when the punishment is to be inflicted. That's pretty plum obvious, TB. The Lewinsky example is thus entirely relevant. She didn't know what she was signing up for when she entered the Oval Office. She would have had an inkling. But in that moment when decisions need to be made... I don’t think this is the massive, let’s humiliate and torture this bloke it’s being made out to be Time will tell. He clearly disagrees with you, and one thing is for certain: neither you or I were there.
Tufanooo
Roar Rookie
Doing extras as a disciplinary measure has always been part of the game… if it didn’t have an impact, why has it persisted There is a fine line between doing extras as disciplinary reasons, and then doing something that crosses a line and becomes wildly disproportionate. As to its persistence, that doesn't remotely prove it is the right behaviour. Behavioural psychology is not black and white. And nor are these physical trainers remotely close to experts in behavioural psychology. Generally the teams that find success are the ones that look to evolve away from the seemingly tried and tested practices. If they were doing spring training, he works have had to do extra sprints One, you cannot possibly know that. All of a sudden you are now making assumptions without any evidence. Two, that punishment is entirely different. Extra sprint training does not require the participation of others to psychologically demean. If you honestly think that these practices are the clincher to unlock the best out of the Bulldogs moving forward, then we need to stop debating.
The Barry
Roar Guru
Enjoy your trip I’m honestly not saying the Bulldogs haven’t done the wrong thing. I’m sure there’s lots of twists and turns to come This has obviously had a big impact on Topine. But that doesn’t automatically mean the Bulldogs have done the wrong thing either As I said right at the start it will be interesting to see how this plays out and the repercussions it has It’s easy to look at the extra wrestling and say that’s not appropriate. That doesn’t mean all extras as disciplinary measures are inappropriate So it’s a spectrum. Where is the line? That’s going to be different for everybody Shark baiting is common practice. To my knowledge this is the first time anyone has come forward and publicly complained. So what have the Dogs done that hasn’t happened in the past…?