Elliott in doghouse as integrity unit probes bathroom meet-up

BULLDOGS general manager Phil Gould has admitted terminating Adam Elliott’s contract at the club is an option.

Gould also revealed Elliott was kept with the Canterbury team in Queensland due to concerns for his welfare despite being stood down for the remainder of the season.

Elliott is at the centre of an NRL Integrity Unit investigation after he was ejected from a Gold Coast restaurant for entering the bathroom with NRLW star Millie Boyle.

Boyle has since given an interview to explain her side of the story, saying “all we did was have a kiss in the bathroom” and claiming it’s “a big kerfuffle about nothing”.

Gould said it would normally not be a major issue, but for Elliott – who has repeatedly inflicted damaging headlines on the club – it was a decision that could prove costly.

“In Adam’s case, and what I tried to explain to Adam, while you think this might not be a major issue, it is actually because it allows the media to regurgitate all that stuff, and that’s apart from ‘what the hell were you thinking anyway?’ and ‘why did you put yourself and get yourself into this position?’,” Gould said.

“In isolation sometimes they’re not major issues but they accumulate over time and sponsors and members and fans and, as I say, staff, everyone starts to get worn by it and tired by it and when it’s the same culprits all the time, that’s when they start to get intolerant of it, to be honest.”

Gould suggested tearing up Elliott’s contract would depend on the integrity unit’s findings – and if, the club was willing to hand him a third chance, having also been reprimanded for his role in the club’s 2018 Mad Monday fiasco.

“We see it happen from time to time with players and clubs and they bounce around and try to start something somewhere else,” Gould said.

“I don’t know whether that will be the case with Adam or not, but that will be a decision we make once the NRL Integrity Unit has done its job.”

Gould added that he had made the decision to keep Elliott in Queensland with the NRL side rather than allowing him to go to Darwin to visit his family or come back to Sydney.

“I’ve been doing this a long time and you feel for them but there are two parts to this, there’s the welfare of the player and with Adam Elliott we made the decision to stand him down for the last two games of the season, and then what do we do?” Gould said.