By Michael Chammas and Adrian Proszenko
Etched on the walls of the club’s Belmore Sportsground headquarters is a motto those at the Canterbury Bulldogs try and live by.
Club first, team second, individual third.
So when club powerbrokers met early yesterday morning to discuss what to do with Josh Addo-Carr after his alleged positive roadside drug test, the credo was at the forefront of their thinking.
Coach Cameron Ciraldo wouldn’t have needed any reminder of the importance of the looming clash against Manly on Sunday – the club’s first finals game in eight years.
But the others in the meeting – general manager Phil Gould, chief executive Aaron Warburton, chairman Adam Driussi (dialled in) and football manager Steve Litvensky – were worried about the implications of having Addo-Carr in the team given the uncertainty surrounding the test that had been sent off to a forensic laboratory for examination.
How would the media coverage impact on his teammates? Would Addo-Carr be in the right headspace to play? And how damaging would it be if results of the test became public before kick-off?
Josh Addo-Carr won’t play this weekend.Credit: NRL Photos
Gould left Belmore soon afterwards and wanted to relay the club’s concerns to Addo-Carr.
“We talked about the scenarios of the week,” Gould said. “There’s a world the way we want it, and there’s a world the way it is. It’s as simple as that. I said, ‘This is the way the world will work if you’re playing and training this week.’
“[For] you, your family, the club, the players, everyone. This is what the week will look like. So Josh had done the noble thing and stood down this week.”
In their correspondence with the club, the NRL integrity unit made it clear Addo-Carr was free to play.
Josh Addo-Carr still has one more year to run on his contract with the Bulldogs.Credit: NRL photos
But Addo-Carr, who was fit to play against Manly after overcoming a heel injury he aggravated at training last Thursday that resulted in him being scratched at the 11th hour for the final round game against the Cowboys on Saturday night, made the decision for them. Club first.
Despite being unavailable for the Cowboys game, Addo-Carr had joined his teammates on Friday for the one-night camp at the Pullman Sydney Olympic Park hotel in what has become a pre-home game ritual under Ciraldo in 2024.
Together with fellow injured players Bronson Xerri and Matt Burton, Addo-Carr joined Ciraldo and members of the coaching staff at Accor Stadium – across the road from the hotel – to watch the Roosters-Rabbitohs game.
Addo-Carr, however, left at half-time, just after 8.30pm. He went back to the hotel, picked up the keys to a Toyota Corolla belonging to a family member and left the precinct.
Addo-Carr told the Bulldogs he went to the EzyMart at Wentworth Point, some three kilometres from the team hotel – not a closer EzyMart a mere 500-metre walk from the team hotel. It’s unclear if he managed to purchase the phone charger he said he was in search of.
At 10.45pm, he was stopped by police. Sources with knowledge of the situation talking on the condition of anonymity told the Herald that the car Addo-Carr was driving was registered to an owner with previous misdemeanours. A police statement said it was a “random” test.
The next morning, with staff unaware he had even left the hotel, Addo-Carr told team management he had undergone the drug test and assured them they had nothing to worry about. His version of events, which was relayed to Gould, was that the first test had been inconclusive and the second was negative, and that he had been allowed to drive home.
The Herald has since reported that the officers had been unable to follow usual roadside drug testing procedures because they had received an urgent call to an attempted home invasion.
Proper procedure requires a test using a drug wipe. A positive reading would then require the person to provide a sample of oral fluid, which is collected and sent for forensic analysis.
Bulldogs general manager Phil Gould.Credit: Nick Moir
The next step requires the person to undertake a second drug wipe test. A second positive reading would result in them being prohibited from driving away. Addo-Carr was never subjected to the second drug wipe test because officers attended to the urgent home invasion call in nearby Lidcombe.
Addo-Carr may not have been entirely forthcoming with that information to the Bulldogs, but equally, confusion around the testing process – which has recently been overhauled – added to the complexity of the situation that was threatening to hijack the club’s long-awaited return to finals football.
Addo-Carr’s lawyer has said he maintains he did not take any illegal drugs at any time. Police have said the investigation into Addo-Carr is ongoing as they await the results of the forensic analysis of the test. No charges have been laid at this time.
On Monday morning, the Herald contacted Driussi after receiving information about Addo-Carr’s situation. It was the first the chairman had heard of the matter, and he duly contacted Gould for clarification.
Gould reiterated that Addo-Carr had been allowed to drive away from the scene, and that therefore the rumours beginning to circulate in league circles had to have been incorrect.
At the time, Gould was unaware of the police version of the events that had taken place on Baywater Drive in Wentworth Point 60 hours earlier. His attempt to put the story to bed with a post on X, formerly Twitter, ended up being the catalyst that ignited the issue.
It was contradicted by the police statement issued soon after – a confirmation of an alleged positive cocaine reading. That forced Gould to call an emergency meeting with Addo-Carr and his agent, Mario Tartak, at Belmore at 5pm on Monday.
It was only an hour before guests were due to arrive for the club’s annual awards night at Le Montage in Lilyfield. Addo-Carr was advised not to attend.
The next morning, at a 30-minute meeting from the 22nd floor of his manager’s office overlooking Accor Stadium, Addo-Carr’s immediate fate was decided.
On Monday, even Canterbury officials were questioning whether they had been misled by Addo-Carr. His contract could have been torn up. By Tuesday, they were defending his innocence. What Wednesday brings is anyone’s guess.
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