Fallout continues as the five-eighth remains unheard from and unseen.
Todd Carney’s manager David Riolo beleives that his client would not be facing career oblivion if he has been playing for another club in the NRL.
Speaking in the wake of the urination photo scandal that has gone viral since Saturday night, Riolo beleives the Sharks’ board made the quick decision to sack Carney because of the other added pressures facing them.
“There are other players who have had serious charges against them for physical assaults and the assault of women and things like that, but who has Todd Carney hurt besides himself and maybe muddied the waters for Cronulla with their sponsors?,” Riolo said.
“I am not trying to defend him in any way, shape or form, but he has been hung, drawn and quartered within a day and without a fair hearing, I believe, and without the opportunity to at least front the board, I don’t think due process has been followed, and I feel for the kid.
“Cronulla is struggling at the moment, they have got a skeletal staff, they are not well resourced, they are not well organised, they don’t have a major sponsor, they are struggling on and off the field with this ASADA investigation hanging over their head, their welfare isn’t great and I think they cracked. If he had been at another club, would he have been sacked? I don’t think so.”
Riolo suggested that a $200,000 fine and a six-month suspension might have been enough to snap his client out of it, but said such options were not considered by the board.
However, Riolo said his client was “a grown man who should have known better” than to put himself in the position he did and who “probably hasn’t heeded the warnings enough” from his past indiscretions.
Carney’s behavioral standards has been slipping this season, with other incidents suspected to have been addressed in-house.
And with the former Dally M Medal winners’ Sharks’ contract containing a “no second-chance” clause, the latest incident that forced Cronulla’s hand given how quickly it spread late on Saturday night and the overall level of disgust from fans of the game.
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