Jackson Topine’s sacking by Phil Gould was ‘improper and contrary to law’

Jackson Topine’s sacking was ‘contrary to law’, his lawyers claim, as it’s revealed how Phil Gould orchestrated the young gun’s final days at the club.

Jackson Topine, left, and Bulldogs GM of Football Phil Gould.

Phil Gould’s sacking of young Bulldogs player Jackson Topine, and his refusal to pay Topine’s ongoing medical bills while he was suffering “psychological ­injuries” as a result of a club ­punishment, was “improper … and contrary to law”, the player’s lawyers claim.

Gould, the NRL club’s football manager, sent an email to ­Topine’s manager last October stating the club would no longer pay him. The young second-rower received his last payment in November 2023, even though he was still receiving medical treatment after suffering a ­mental breakdown.

The revelations follow an ­investigation by The Australian that revealed Topine was ­allegedly forced to wrestle “30 to 35” of his clubmates after an ­already exhausting 90-minute wrestling session, as a penalty for being late.

Topine, who alleges he ­needed assistance to stand and walk at the end of the punishment, has launched a claim for damages against the Bulldogs for “psychiatric injury, deprivation of liberty, humiliation, indignity, physical exhaus­tion, physical discomfort, anxiety, embarrassment and fear,” as well as the loss of his livelihood.

Bulldogs chairman Adam Driussi said in a statement on Wednesday night the board had unanimously agreed it would “vigorously” defend the club and head trainer Travis Touma against Topine’s claim.

Gould declined to answer questions following a text ­message from The Australian.

Sources said the Canterbury club was “rattled” by the allegations revealed in The Australian on Wednesday – the Bulldogs have been accused of the “deprivation of liberty” and “unlawful corporal punishment” of Topine, a former schoolboy captain of Australia who has now launched a $4m claim for compensation.

The Australian can now also reveal how Topine’s final days at the club were orchestrated by Gould. Last October, Gould sent an email to Topine’s manager saying that he needed “to get the matter sorted so we can all move on”, and that Topine’s next payment would be his last.

The Bulldogs separately claimed the club had “no ongoing obligation to continue paying (Topine’s) Playing Fee after the expiry of 8 days personal/sick leave” because “his underlying mental and cognitive conditions were not “sustained when training or playing for the club’”.

This is disputed by Topine, who claims he suffered greatly and was deeply humiliated and that it caused him the loss of his livelihood.

While the club claimed at the time that he left the session smiling and happy, club mates and friends told The Australian that he suffered a serious mental breakdown.

He went on sick leave the following week and has not trained or played since.

Last November, the club stopped all payments to him, including for his medical bills.

The NRL has not deregistered Topine and, along with its integrity unit, has repeatedly reached out to the player since the incident.

In legal documents exchanged between the club and Topine’s lawyers, obtained by the Australian, it’s claimed Gould in effect sacked the young player last October when he sent an email to his manager saying Topine was “obviously not coming back to play with the Bulldogs” in 2024 and that they needed to “move on”.

Moving on meant that the club would cut all payments to Topine, including his ongoing medical bills. However, in the same email Gould acknowledged Topine had a need for “continuing welfare and rehab programs”.

Topine’s lawyers claim that Gould’s email was “a final and unambiguous decision” to sack the young player.

Jackson Topine. Picture: Alix Sweeney

“The decision, to say the least, was improper, unfounded in fact, and contrary to law,” Topine’s lawyers claim.

“Of course, it is unnecessary to consider what possible conduct could have allowed Mr Gould to have this subjective opinion … that there has been an absolute refusal” of Topine “to fulfil the terms of (his) contract. At very least the decision to assess if Topine was incapable of fulfilling his contract by turning up to training and playing – due to his psychological injuries sustained during the wrestling punishment – “necessarily required expert medical opinion”.

In the correspondence, the club claimed Topine had breached his contract by not previously notifying them of his existing “mental health conditions” and through “his persistent failure to respond to communications by the club in a timely manner (or at all).”

Mr Gould’s actions, Topine’s lawyers claim, resulted in him suffering “substantial loss and damage” following his sacking from his “only employment income source, at a time where his psychiatric/psychological condition” was severe.

These issues will now be thrashed out in the NSW Supreme Court, with the matter listed for June 13, where Topine’s lawyers will claim he is due more than $4m for his loss of earnings and the injuries he suffered.

They claim that his existing issues were exacerbated by the “assault” at the wrestling gym and that the club has treated Topine with “contumelious disregard”.

“Our client will be formally making a claim for damages (against the club) in due course,” the letter from Topine’s lawyers to the club says.

A number of players have since told The Australian that the Topine lawsuit was a “line in sand” moment, and that things needed to change regarding the poor treatment of players who saw their own clubs as being an “unsafe environment to disclose incidents”.

The club’s board met on Wednesday night to discuss the ­matters.

Gould was expected to address the board.