Canterbury Bulldogs are privately defending their treatment of an NRL player who walked out of training five weeks ago due to mental health reasons.
The player, who hasn’t been named due to the seriousness of his mental state, turned up to training late for a session last month. He is in the top 30 squad but considered a fringe first-grader.
The coaching staff decided to enforce a punishment, which is a common practice at NRL clubs, asking him to wrestle up to a dozen of his teammates for an extended period at the end of training.
A week later he asked the club for time off due to personal reasons and hasn’t been back to training since. The club is still paying his contract.
The Bulldogs declined to comment when contacted on Tuesday night. The Daily Telegraph also reported that centre Braidon Burns walked out on a training session last week after suffering a hamstring injury and has left the club. The Herald has been told he trained on Tuesday.
It comes after the Herald reported on Monday that Bulldogs staff were aware of a text message that has been doing the rounds in recent days that claimed up to eight players were unhappy at the club under the coaching of Cameron Ciraldo.
