Josh Addo-Carr move comes to light as under-fire Bulldogs star makes telling NRL finals call

Under-fire Bulldogs winger Josh Addo-Carr has broken his silence over the drug controversy that's thrown his NRL career into question after insisting his name will eventually be cleared. Addo-Carr stood himself down from playing in the Bulldogs' elimination final against Manly on Sunday and will not attend the sudden-death showdown at Accor Stadium, as he doesn't want the off-field drama to distract from his side's first playoffs series since 2016.

Addo-Carr's future at the club hangs in the balance after his secondary drug test came back positive for cocaine on Friday, following an initial positive result in a roadside test. NSW Police issued Addo-Carr's lawyers with an infringement notice for driving under the influence of illicit drugs, a week after he was pulled over on the evening of September 6.

The Bulldogs flyer passed the random breath test undertaken roadside in Sydney's Wentworth Point but failed a subsequent drug swipe and stood himself down from playing duties. Addo-Carr maintains he never knowingly ingested an illicit drug but after an oral fluid sample was sent for further testing, the results came back positive for cocaine on Friday.

But in a statement to The Sydney Morning Herald, Addo-Carr said he actually went out of his way to have the secondary test result expedited because he was convinced it would come up negative and prove his innocence. That obviously wasn't the case but Addo-Carr still opted to pay the $682 fine and accepted a three-month disqualification from driving so he could put the matter behind him.

Josh Addo-Carr confident his name will be cleared

On Sunday, he told the SMH that his “name will be cleared” and apologised to his teammates and the club for the negative headlines that the messy saga has brought about. “I know I’ve done nothing wrong and my name will be cleared in time," Addo-Carr told the SMH. “It’s frustrating that the club has to deal with this situation and I feel awful for that. I want it to be known that I didn’t take drugs and I look forward to my name being cleared. I want to thank everyone at the club, especially Gus [general manager Phil Gould], [chairman] Adam [Driussi] and [coach] Cameron [Ciraldo]."

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Addo-Carr said until he was cleared of any wrongdoing that his focus would continue to be on what is best for the club. And the winger said he hoped to be able to return for the Bulldogs in the second week of the finals - provided they beat Manly on Sunday - and repay the faith and support the club has shown him.

Addo-Carr is not subject to the NRL's no-fault stand-down policy, which precludes players from taking the field when charged with criminal offences that carry long-term prison sentences. But his future at the club has come under a cloud, considering the response of Bulldogs supremo Phil Gould to the Latrell Mitchell white powder scandal.

Josh Addo-Carr's future at Canterbury is up in the air

Mitchell was only photographed with a white powder and did not test positive to any illicit substances. But Gould said at the time - and before the Addo-Carr development - that Canterbury would have come down very hard on Mitchell if he was a Bulldogs player.

“I don’t think our club could tolerate that sort of behaviour, I don’t think that we could tolerate that at all,” Gould said about the drama around Mitchell at the time. The Bulldogs' GM of football has been reminded about those words in the wake of Addo-Carr's situation, with many questioning whether Gould and the Bulldogs have been left with no other choice but to let go of the former representative winger.

Addo-Carr is contracted to Canterbury through 2025 but would be free to negotiate with rival clubs for 2026 from November 1. The club previously summoned Addo-Carr to explain himself over a brawl at the Koori Knockout last September that saw him miss end-of-season Tests for the Kangaroos. And his future at the Bulldogs could very well be determined by the outcome of his latest off-field drama.