Cowboys move on after Carney walks
THE North Queensland Cowboys say they will move on from the sudden walk out of Todd Carney, saying his departure could fast- track the rise of highly rated Tully junior Jake Clifford.
Carney has quit Cowboys feeder club the Northern Pride to be closer to family in Sydney after signing a three- year deal with the Queensland Cup outfit to press his claims for an NRL return.
Carney had trained with the Cowboys and was involved in a drawn- out process to have an NRL contract registered by the code’s governing body.
“Todd rang me and said that because of family reasons he needed to move back towards Sydney to spend more time with his mother and sisters,” Cowboys general manager of football Peter Parr told NRL. com.
“He said he needed to make a decision that wasn’t based on football, and move. He didn’t ring up to discuss it. He rang up to tell me that he was going.
“We are disappointed. We have to accept that is what he’s going to do, but we have options and it doesn’t change a lot for us.
“We thought Todd would provide us good depth in a key position but at the moment we’ve got Johnathan ( Thurston) and Michael Morgan in the halves, Te Maire Martin playing off the bench and one of the best players in the Intrust Super Cup at the moment in Jake Clifford.
“We have options and it doesn’t change a lot for us.”
Parr believed the Cowboys, who spent significant time and energy in giving Carney an opportunity, were close to getting an NRL deal finalised.
“We had some good dialogue with ( NRL CEO) Todd Greenberg and ( NRL chief operating officer) Nick Weeks in relation to Todd Carney,” Parr said. “My expectation was that they would register the contract with a set of conditions attached. My own view on it was that we were close to getting a registered contract but Todd has decided to go in another direction.”
The Pride took a huge risk signing Carney to a three- year deal last October as he sought to revive his career with an NRL club after spending three seasons in the English Super League.
Pride coach Ty Williams accepted Carney’s reasons for leaving, but hinted there were other issues at play compounding the decision.
“I know the full extent of it, but it’s not my position to actually go into details with it. I respect him enough knowing him for the months I’ve known him to not do it,” he said.
News Corp understands the club struggled to find the former NSW Origin star full- time work outside his Pride promotional duties, as Carney believed was promised, since he landed in the Far North.
NSW Intrust Super Premiership club Newtown Jets had been suggested as his next destination and yesterday revealed Carney’s management had approached them, but Jets CEO Stuart McCarthy closed the door on Carney.
“Don’t get me wrong, Todd Carney needs to be playing football, he’s a talented player, but just not at our club and our facilities,” he said.