NRL 2024: Canterbury Bulldogs players go to war over Jackson Topine court case | What’s the Buzz

In a lawsuit that could have huge ramifications for sport, former and current Bulldogs players will be key witnesses when Jackson Topine takes on the NRL club in court next month.

Former teammates will support ex-Bulldog Jackson Topine in his court case against Canterbury, according to legal sources.

Topine’s lawyers claim he suffered “psychiatric injury” and “physical and mental impairment” when the young forward was made to wrestle the entire Bulldogs squad as punishment for being late to training. They also claim his contract was illegally terminated.

One player recently told The Australian: “It wasn’t wrestling, it was humiliation.”

Another told The Daily Telegraph last year: “I thought to myself, ‘What the f--- are they doing this for?’ ”

It is not known if they are the two players who have agreed to be witnesses.

Ex-Bulldog Jackson Topine is taking the club to court, after he was allegedly made to wrestle the entire Bulldogs squad as punishment. Picture: NRL Imagery

One source said: “People present in the wrestling room that day will be supporting him.”

More than a dozen current and former Canterbury Bulldogs players will be subpoenaed to give evidence.

“They’ll call every player who witnessed what happened if they have to,” said the source.

Players who have since left Belmore – including Paul Alamoti, Jake Averillo, Kyle Flanagan, Raymond Faitala-Mariner and Braidon Burns – will be called to give their version of events and are most likely to be backing Topine.

Current big-name players – including Viliame Kikau, Matt Burton, Josh Addo-Carr and Reed Mahoney – are also likely to be put in the witness box under oath.

Topine has since had to put up with claims from some ex-players that he is soft.

The case is listed for court in June, but is unlikely to affect the Bulldogs’ premiership bid as the initial hearing is only listed for mention in the Supreme Court.

Current and former Bulldogs players could be subpoenaed to give evidence in the court hearings. Picture: Getty Images

Topine’s legal team alleges that, despite the player’s obvious exhaustion and distress, his teammates were ordered by head trainer Travis Touma to continue wrestling him and used words to the effect of, “Don’t let him up. If he’s down, jump on him straight away”,

Topine has since been on mental health leave. He is under contract until the end of this season, but the club has stopped paying him.

Topine’s lawyer Abdul Reslan says the player’s lawsuit would have significant ramifications for sport.

Especially in light of findings in a recent coronial inquiry into the death of Manly Sea Eagles player Keith Titmuss, which found the training session, after which he died, was “more likely than not inappropriate”.

Counsel assisting the coroner, Adam Casselden, SC, told the inquest in March that the training session was “unnecessarily and inappropriately tough” for a player of Titmuss’s aerobic capacity.

The Bulldogs will vigorously defend the matter and their trainer Touma.

Originally published as NRL 2024: Canterbury Bulldogs players go to war over Jackson Topine court case | What’s the Buzz