Eighteen months ago, Canterbury’s coaching staff were accused of leaving Jackson Topine with “psychiatric injury” and “physical and mental impairment” after the forward was made to wrestle 35 teammates as punishment for allegedly being late to training.
Topine was sacked at the end of the 2023 season, and later launched a $4m lawsuit against the club in which he claims he was subjected to “assault” – which Canterbury have denied – when forced to wrestle a succession of teammates in short intervals during a training session.
The Bulldogs have defended the Supreme Court action against them, denying liability and arguing that Topine consented to the wrestling activity.
On Tuesday, the same Bulldogs staff were being celebrated as the best in the business after the Rugby League Players Association published their results of a player poll.
A total of 512 players across all 17 NRL clubs took part in the poll, in which they …