Is this the first time Todd Carney has seriously been held accountable by his teammates? It looks that way on the outside.
Now I’m not suggesting Carney’s former club the Canberra Raiders didn’t try to reign in their star prodigy, they did, but there is a big difference between being suspended and losing the respect and trust of your peers.
Look around at any football club with a troublemaker. You’ll often find that the troublemaker is the leader of the pack or someone that has the natural ability to influence others. These troublemakers are nearly always top blokes and they befriend teammates easily with a larrikin personality. It’s incredible tough for anyone within the team to stand up to this person and tell them to seriously pull their socks up.
Sometimes the coach or the captain will put their foot down, but often it’s without the support of the rest of the team who don’t want to lose the friendship of the troublemaker. As you can imagine this creates a siege mentality and only disrupts the harmony of the team.
To tame a troublemaker you need all your senior players to unite and put that person on notice. It’s the only way.
It seems the Sydney Roosters understand this and have rolled the dice. The ball is now in Carney’s court, and only time will tell if he truly respects those around him.
