Todd Carney

Todd Carney

Personal information
Full name	Todd Carney
Height	186 cm (6 ft 1 in)
Weight	90 kg (14 st 0 in)
Position	Half-Back / Five-Eighth

Todd Carney (born 2 June 1986 in Goulburn, New South Wales) is an Australian rugby league player formerly with the Canberra Raiders in the NRL competition. His usual position is five-eighth, though he also plays halfback regularly. He has represented Australia at all junior levels and is also noted for his field goal kicking, being able to kick 50m out from goal. Carney has attracted headlines for off-field misdemeanours over his short career.

Career

Carney made his debut for the Raiders at the age of 17 after two years in Jersey Flegg (including a championship in 2003). After making a handful of appearances in 2004 he was named the club's rookie of the year. Canberra signed Jason Smith who helped shape his game. Despite only playing 11 games with a single try, Carney was rewarded with a starting position in the Junior Kangaroos annual fixture against Papua New Guinea, where he tallied a record 20 points.

2006 was Carney's breakthrough year where he cemented his position in first grade, scoring 12 tries in 18 games. His long range kicking became a feature of his game, forcing numerous 40-20s. Carney won three games in extra time off 40 metre drop goals as Canberra finished in the Top 8. He was again selected in the Junior Kangaroos squad, but this time as captain.

After being thrust into the position of five-eighth in 2007, Carney earned three Man of the Match awards from seven games. However his City-Country selection chances were laid to rest when he got into hot water over a high speed pursuit incident. Carney began modelling his game on Jonathan Thurston before the 2008 season in a bid to play representative football. Carney's 2008 pre-season was eventful as he became the subject of a three way battle between Canberra, Manly and Penrith. Eventually he re-signed with the Raiders until 2010 with an option for 2 further years.

Half way through the 2008 NRL season, Todd Carney was voted the best player in the NRL through an online poll run by the Daily Telegraph, receiving over 4000 votes (more than 25% of total votes cast).

Controversy

2006

Carney was charged with drink driving and reckless driving after an incident in Ballanya Avenue, Goulburn, on 16 December, 2006, and had his license suspended for five years.

2007

Just before 6pm on 18 May, 2007, Carney re-offended. Despite being disqualified from driving, Carney drove a ute belonging to teammate Steve Irwin. Police began to pursue the vehicle after noticing the wheels of the ute momentarily lose traction as it went around a corner. Despite the police car having its sirens sounding and lights flashing, Carney refused to stop his speeding vehicle, leading police on a high-speed chase through the back streets of the Canberra suburb of Bruce. After turning into a dead-end street, Carney stopped the car and fled the scene on foot, leaving his mate Steve Irwin in the passenger seat. Irwin told police Carney was the driver. Police went to Carney's house, but he was not there. The next morning, Carney turned himself in.

On Tuesday, 12 June 2007, Carney appeared in the ACT Magistrates Court, pleading guilty to the charges of failing to stop when directed by police, negligent driving and driving while disqualified. He escaped jail, but the Court placed Carney on a 12-month good behaviour order, banned him from driving until 2012, and sentenced him to 200 hours of community service. The Magistrate warned Carney that if he commits another offence he would "undoubtedly go to jail." Controversially, the Raiders club sacked Irwin (who was not charged with any offences) over the incident but retained Carney.

2008

On 20 July, 2008, it was alleged Carney urinated on a man at a Canberra nightclub. Carney was suspended from participating in league matches and training while the allegations were investigated. The complaint was withdrawn two days later but Carney remained suspended for the round 21 match against the Gold Coast Titans.

The nightclub allegations sparked renewed interest in Carney's 2007 negligent driving charges when Steve Irwin claimed that Carney was intoxicated whilst driving at the time of the 2007 incident but he had been pressured by the club to remain quiet in an attempt to avoid a jail sentence for Carney.

The above incident led to Canberra imposing an ultimatum on Carney whereby he must:

• stand down from training and matches for the rest of the season;
• go on an alcohol ban until the end of 2012;
• undergo counselling;
• complete a community service program; and
• and pay a $20,000 fine.

The NRL threatened to de-register his contract for 2 years if Carney didn't accept this plan in order to protect the Raiders from losing him to another club.

On the 7th of August, 2008, Canberra sacked Carney and terminated his $400,000 a season contract. Carney has been de-registered by the NRL and will not be eligible to compete in the competition until 2010.

He has been linked to Harlequins Rugby League along with the Celtic Crusaders and Salford City Reds who will play in the European Super League from 2009.

External links

• Canberra Raiders profile
• NRL profile

See also

• List of Rugby league incidents