News Jackson Topine takes Bulldogs to court

[Doogie]

Too hard to argue with? Ok doog back to your weetbix.

Hashbix. At least get that right.

 

[D0GMATIC]

So this happened 10 months ago. What do you think has happened between now and then? Lots of talk in the background. Thats how it ends up in a $4M lawsuit.

And if Liam Knight had to get his hair dyed for being late (if true), then the kid has a very fair argument to say he was bullied out of a footy career.

Id say whats been happening between then and now is 10 months of conniving. So should Liam Knight throw in the towel and just sue for 4 million too ? Oh and BTW, topine wasn't bullied out of football, he stopped going to training.

 

[maroondog72]

Hashbix. At least get that right.

You do you

 

[Nano]

So 21 year olds make mistakes, people under mental duress make mistakes but he needs to take personal accountability.

Good 4 you grandad. Been a long time since you were 21 - put your dentures back in and STFU

When I was 21, I was starting my second degree in a highly technical field to pathway quickly to a masters in said field...

I had way more stress at the same age as some fkn 21 year old footy player who failed yet I didn't cry and sulk, life wasn't easy as a full time student with not much money around to have "fun" and needing to complete internships that barely paid while tradie apprentices got a wage, yet I was assigning and delegating work to them lol

I took personal accountability with what was expected and knuckled down, I reaped the rewards unlike the little bitch who put all his eggs in being the professional athlete basked and failed lol

 

[jof]

Quite a bit of new info in this latest Australian article:


Jackson Topine’s sacking by Phil Gould was ‘improper and contrary to law’

Phil Gould’s sacking of young Bulldogs player Jackson Topine, and his refusal to pay Topine’s ongoing medical bills while he was suffering “psychological injuries” as a result of a club punishment, was “improper … and contrary to law”, the player’s lawyers claim.
Gould, the NRL club’s football manager, sent an email to Topine’s manager last October stating the club would no longer pay him. The young second-rower received his last payment in November 2023, even though he was still receiving medical treatment after suffering a mental breakdown.

The revelations follow an investigation by The Australian that revealed Topine was allegedly forced to wrestle “30 to 35” of his clubmates after an already exhausting 90-minute wrestling session, as a penalty for being late.

Topine, who alleges he needed assistance to stand and walk at the end of the punishment, has launched a claim for damages against the Bulldogs for “psychiatric injury, deprivation of liberty, humiliation, indignity, physical exhaustion, physical discomfort, anxiety, embarrassment and fear,” as well as the loss of his livelihood.

Bulldogs chairman Adam Driussi said in a statement on Wednesday night the board had unanimously agreed it would “vigorously” defend the club and head trainer Travis Touma against Topine’s claim.

Gould declined to answer questions following a text message from The Australian.

Sources said the Canterbury club was “rattled” by the allegations revealed in The Australian on Wednesday – the Bulldogs have been accused of the “deprivation of liberty” and “unlawful corporal punishment” of Topine, a former schoolboy captain of Australia who has now launched a $4m claim for compensation.

The Australian can now also reveal how Topine’s final days at the club were orchestrated by Gould. Last October, Gould sent an email to Topine’s manager saying that he needed “to get the matter sorted so we can all move on”, and that Topine’s next payment would be his last.

The Bulldogs separately claimed the club had “no ongoing obligation to continue paying (Topine’s) Playing Fee after the expiry of 8 days personal/sick leave” because “his underlying mental and cognitive conditions were not “sustained when training or playing for the club’”.
This is disputed by Topine, who claims he suffered greatly and was deeply humiliated and that it caused him the loss of his livelihood.

While the club claimed at the time that he left the session smiling and happy, club mates and friends told The Australian that he suffered a serious mental breakdown.

He went on sick leave the following week and has not trained or played since.
Last November, the club stopped all payments to him, including for his medical bills.

The NRL has not deregistered Topine and, along with its integrity unit, has repeatedly reached out to the player since the incident.
In legal documents exchanged between the club and Topine’s lawyers, obtained by the Australian, it’s claimed Gould in effect sacked the young player last October when he sent an email to his manager saying Topine was “obviously not coming back to play with the Bulldogs” in 2024 and that they needed to “move on”.

Moving on meant that the club would cut all payments to Topine, including his ongoing medical bills. However, in the same email Gould acknowledged Topine had a need for “continuing welfare and rehab programs”.
Topine’s lawyers claim that Gould’s email was “a final and unambiguous decision” to sack the young player.

“The decision, to say the least, was improper, unfounded in fact, and contrary to law,” Topine’s lawyers claim.
“Of course, it is unnecessary to consider what possible conduct could have allowed Mr Gould to have this subjective opinion … that there has been an absolute refusal” of Topine “to fulfil the terms of (his) contract. At very least the decision to assess if Topine was incapable of fulfilling his contract by turning up to training and playing – due to his psychological injuries sustained during the wrestling punishment – “necessarily required expert medical opinion”.

In the correspondence, the club claimed Topine had breached his contract by not previously notifying them of his existing “mental health conditions” and through “his persistent failure to respond to communications by the club in a timely manner (or at all).”
Mr Gould’s actions, Topine’s lawyers claim, resulted in him suffering “substantial loss and damage” following his sacking from his “only employment income source, at a time where his psychiatric/psychological condition” was severe.

These issues will now be thrashed out in the NSW Supreme Court, with the matter listed for June 13, where Topine’s lawyers will claim he is due more than $4m for his loss of earnings and the injuries he suffered.

They claim that his existing issues were exacerbated by the “assault” at the wrestling gym and that the club has treated Topine with “contumelious disregard”.

“Our client will be formally making a claim for damages (against the club) in due course,” the letter from Topine’s lawyers to the club says.

A number of players have since told The Australian that the Topine lawsuit was a “line in sand” moment, and that things needed to change regarding the poor treatment of players who saw their own clubs as being an “unsafe environment to disclose incidents”.
The club’s board met on Wednesday night to discuss the matters.
Gould was expected to address the board.

 

[Doogie]

Id say whats been happening between then and now is 10 months of conniving. So should Liam Knight throw in the towel and just sue for 4 million too ? Oh and BTW, topine wasn't bullied out of football, he stopped going to training.

So, unless I'm wrong and if I am, please share. You and I know fck all about what happened apart from a few newspaper articles and some tweets.

Its about to go to court where the real deets come out. In your book he's guilty now and in my book the benefit of the doubt until the deets come out.

Did I miss anything?

 

[Alan79]

there is a limit as to what can be done to punish players, like if the 30 players were to whip him or bang him in the ass then thats crossed the line

@Tassie Devil might have differing opinions on this as a form of punishment.

 

[Trinfly]

@Tassie Devil might have differing opinions on this as a form of punishment.

He will respond shortly lol

 

[D0GMATIC]

Me? I'm not taking any aspect of his legal case as legitimate. I'm making the case that good kids don't go bad like that if there isn't a bigger problem. Others (Gus) who know more about it than me are pointing at mental health. I'll take that as credible. And the circumstances obviously suggest there's a bigger issue.

Put your comment in the lens of a 21 year old. Reckon 1) I'd have reckoned I wasn't late and 2) would not have wanted to tap out no matter what and 3) would have had the shits big time afterwards to the point where I would have had a dummy spit. And thats without me thinking me as a 21 year old, that I had a mental health issue. I'm just stupid. I'm 21.

And I reckon if you remove point 2 that's why there is a court case,in a nutshell . . .He didn't think he was late and he got the shits and he is having a dummy spit.

 

[Nano]

Quite a bit of new info in this latest Australian article:


Jackson Topine’s sacking by Phil Gould was ‘improper and contrary to law’

Phil Gould’s sacking of young Bulldogs player Jackson Topine, and his refusal to pay Topine’s ongoing medical bills while he was suffering “psychological injuries” as a result of a club punishment, was “improper … and contrary to law”, the player’s lawyers claim.
Gould, the NRL club’s football manager, sent an email to Topine’s manager last October stating the club would no longer pay him. The young second-rower received his last payment in November 2023, even though he was still receiving medical treatment after suffering a mental breakdown.

The revelations follow an investigation by The Australian that revealed Topine was allegedly forced to wrestle “30 to 35” of his clubmates after an already exhausting 90-minute wrestling session, as a penalty for being late.

Topine, who alleges he needed assistance to stand and walk at the end of the punishment, has launched a claim for damages against the Bulldogs for “psychiatric injury, deprivation of liberty, humiliation, indignity, physical exhaustion, physical discomfort, anxiety, embarrassment and fear,” as well as the loss of his livelihood.

Bulldogs chairman Adam Driussi said in a statement on Wednesday night the board had unanimously agreed it would “vigorously” defend the club and head trainer Travis Touma against Topine’s claim.

Gould declined to answer questions following a text message from The Australian.

Sources said the Canterbury club was “rattled” by the allegations revealed in The Australian on Wednesday – the Bulldogs have been accused of the “deprivation of liberty” and “unlawful corporal punishment” of Topine, a former schoolboy captain of Australia who has now launched a $4m claim for compensation.

The Australian can now also reveal how Topine’s final days at the club were orchestrated by Gould. Last October, Gould sent an email to Topine’s manager saying that he needed “to get the matter sorted so we can all move on”, and that Topine’s next payment would be his last.

The Bulldogs separately claimed the club had “no ongoing obligation to continue paying (Topine’s) Playing Fee after the expiry of 8 days personal/sick leave” because “his underlying mental and cognitive conditions were not “sustained when training or playing for the club’”.
This is disputed by Topine, who claims he suffered greatly and was deeply humiliated and that it caused him the loss of his livelihood.

While the club claimed at the time that he left the session smiling and happy, club mates and friends told The Australian that he suffered a serious mental breakdown.

He went on sick leave the following week and has not trained or played since.
Last November, the club stopped all payments to him, including for his medical bills.

The NRL has not deregistered Topine and, along with its integrity unit, has repeatedly reached out to the player since the incident.
In legal documents exchanged between the club and Topine’s lawyers, obtained by the Australian, it’s claimed Gould in effect sacked the young player last October when he sent an email to his manager saying Topine was “obviously not coming back to play with the Bulldogs” in 2024 and that they needed to “move on”.

Moving on meant that the club would cut all payments to Topine, including his ongoing medical bills. However, in the same email Gould acknowledged Topine had a need for “continuing welfare and rehab programs”.
Topine’s lawyers claim that Gould’s email was “a final and unambiguous decision” to sack the young player.

“The decision, to say the least, was improper, unfounded in fact, and contrary to law,” Topine’s lawyers claim.
“Of course, it is unnecessary to consider what possible conduct could have allowed Mr Gould to have this subjective opinion … that there has been an absolute refusal” of Topine “to fulfil the terms of (his) contract. At very least the decision to assess if Topine was incapable of fulfilling his contract by turning up to training and playing – due to his psychological injuries sustained during the wrestling punishment – “necessarily required expert medical opinion”.

In the correspondence, the club claimed Topine had breached his contract by not previously notifying them of his existing “mental health conditions” and through “his persistent failure to respond to communications by the club in a timely manner (or at all).”
Mr Gould’s actions, Topine’s lawyers claim, resulted in him suffering “substantial loss and damage” following his sacking from his “only employment income source, at a time where his psychiatric/psychological condition” was severe.

These issues will now be thrashed out in the NSW Supreme Court, with the matter listed for June 13, where Topine’s lawyers will claim he is due more than $4m for his loss of earnings and the injuries he suffered.

They claim that his existing issues were exacerbated by the “assault” at the wrestling gym and that the club has treated Topine with “contumelious disregard”.

“Our client will be formally making a claim for damages (against the club) in due course,” the letter from Topine’s lawyers to the club says.

A number of players have since told The Australian that the Topine lawsuit was a “line in sand” moment, and that things needed to change regarding the poor treatment of players who saw their own clubs as being an “unsafe environment to disclose incidents”.
The club’s board met on Wednesday night to discuss the matters.
Gould was expected to address the board.

Where in the world is this **** worth $4M lol?

He was a fringe first grader at best when he played on minimum wage and if he met the average 40 or so games an NRL player has as a career, thats like 2x seasons on minimum wage which around $200-300k?

His lawyers are reaching hard lol

 

[Doogie]

And I reckon if you remove point 2 that's why there is a court case,in a nutshell . . .He didn't think he was late and he got the shits and he is having a dummy spit.

See @jof post above.

If thats the deets, then thats a fair case. Is it worth $4M, not my call. But if true, the Dogs didn't handle this well. Especially when you can point to Liam Knight.

 

[jof]

One of the most important things that might go missed in that latest article i posted above:

They claim that his existing issues were exacerbated by the “assault” at the wrestling gym and that the club has treated Topine with “contumelious disregard”.

 

[Bulldog Bloke]

So 21 year olds make mistakes, people under mental duress make mistakes but he needs to take personal accountability.

Good 4 you grandad. Been a long time since you were 21 - put your dentures back in and STFU

There were half a dozen way below nrl standard players last year, and he could not beat them for a first grade spot.
Think he realised that all the pumping up of his tyres his entire life to that point meant squat.
Reality set in.
And now he sues the club.
Keep hearing 21 years old.
Last I checked that’s grown man.
Make mistakes,sure.
The captain is 23 years old this year and has almost single handedly changed the culture.

the club doesn’t need to change its approach.
The clown sueing them does.

 

[cookieman909]

He wrestled between 30-35 players. The dog was so traumatised he can’t even remember how many players he wrestled. Tomorrow he’ll claim he had to wrestle the juniors as well.

 

[D0GMATIC]

So, unless I'm wrong and if I am, please share. You and I know fck all about what happened apart from a few newspaper articles and some tweets.

Its about to go to court where the real deets come out. In your book he's guilty now and in my book the benefit of the doubt until the deets come out.

Did I miss anything?

The real "deets" are out. I'm not sure what else you're expecting.

 

[pillow]

Quite a bit of new info in this latest Australian article:


Jackson Topine’s sacking by Phil Gould was ‘improper and contrary to law’

Phil Gould’s sacking of young Bulldogs player Jackson Topine, and his refusal to pay Topine’s ongoing medical bills while he was suffering “psychological injuries” as a result of a club punishment, was “improper … and contrary to law”, the player’s lawyers claim.
Gould, the NRL club’s football manager, sent an email to Topine’s manager last October stating the club would no longer pay him. The young second-rower received his last payment in November 2023, even though he was still receiving medical treatment after suffering a mental breakdown.

The revelations follow an investigation by The Australian that revealed Topine was allegedly forced to wrestle “30 to 35” of his clubmates after an already exhausting 90-minute wrestling session, as a penalty for being late.

Topine, who alleges he needed assistance to stand and walk at the end of the punishment, has launched a claim for damages against the Bulldogs for “psychiatric injury, deprivation of liberty, humiliation, indignity, physical exhaustion, physical discomfort, anxiety, embarrassment and fear,” as well as the loss of his livelihood.

Bulldogs chairman Adam Driussi said in a statement on Wednesday night the board had unanimously agreed it would “vigorously” defend the club and head trainer Travis Touma against Topine’s claim.

Gould declined to answer questions following a text message from The Australian.

Sources said the Canterbury club was “rattled” by the allegations revealed in The Australian on Wednesday – the Bulldogs have been accused of the “deprivation of liberty” and “unlawful corporal punishment” of Topine, a former schoolboy captain of Australia who has now launched a $4m claim for compensation.

The Australian can now also reveal how Topine’s final days at the club were orchestrated by Gould. Last October, Gould sent an email to Topine’s manager saying that he needed “to get the matter sorted so we can all move on”, and that Topine’s next payment would be his last.

The Bulldogs separately claimed the club had “no ongoing obligation to continue paying (Topine’s) Playing Fee after the expiry of 8 days personal/sick leave” because “his underlying mental and cognitive conditions were not “sustained when training or playing for the club’”.
This is disputed by Topine, who claims he suffered greatly and was deeply humiliated and that it caused him the loss of his livelihood.

While the club claimed at the time that he left the session smiling and happy, club mates and friends told The Australian that he suffered a serious mental breakdown.

He went on sick leave the following week and has not trained or played since.
Last November, the club stopped all payments to him, including for his medical bills.

The NRL has not deregistered Topine and, along with its integrity unit, has repeatedly reached out to the player since the incident.
In legal documents exchanged between the club and Topine’s lawyers, obtained by the Australian, it’s claimed Gould in effect sacked the young player last October when he sent an email to his manager saying Topine was “obviously not coming back to play with the Bulldogs” in 2024 and that they needed to “move on”.

Moving on meant that the club would cut all payments to Topine, including his ongoing medical bills. However, in the same email Gould acknowledged Topine had a need for “continuing welfare and rehab programs”.
Topine’s lawyers claim that Gould’s email was “a final and unambiguous decision” to sack the young player.

“The decision, to say the least, was improper, unfounded in fact, and contrary to law,” Topine’s lawyers claim.
“Of course, it is unnecessary to consider what possible conduct could have allowed Mr Gould to have this subjective opinion … that there has been an absolute refusal” of Topine “to fulfil the terms of (his) contract. At very least the decision to assess if Topine was incapable of fulfilling his contract by turning up to training and playing – due to his psychological injuries sustained during the wrestling punishment – “necessarily required expert medical opinion”.

In the correspondence, the club claimed Topine had breached his contract by not previously notifying them of his existing “mental health conditions” and through “his persistent failure to respond to communications by the club in a timely manner (or at all).”
Mr Gould’s actions, Topine’s lawyers claim, resulted in him suffering “substantial loss and damage” following his sacking from his “only employment income source, at a time where his psychiatric/psychological condition” was severe.

These issues will now be thrashed out in the NSW Supreme Court, with the matter listed for June 13, where Topine’s lawyers will claim he is due more than $4m for his loss of earnings and the injuries he suffered.

They claim that his existing issues were exacerbated by the “assault” at the wrestling gym and that the club has treated Topine with “contumelious disregard”.

“Our client will be formally making a claim for damages (against the club) in due course,” the letter from Topine’s lawyers to the club says.

A number of players have since told The Australian that the Topine lawsuit was a “line in sand” moment, and that things needed to change regarding the poor treatment of players who saw their own clubs as being an “unsafe environment to disclose incidents”.
The club’s board met on Wednesday night to discuss the matters.
Gould was expected to address the board.

Ambulance chaser lawyers smelling cash.

Shows up late, doesn't own his mistake, copped a punishment that seems to be pretty common among other teams...couldn't hack it so he took his ball and went home...but still wants to be paid.

I highly doubt any of his team mates were trying to 'assault' him or injure him in any way during the wrestling punishment.

Reality is, he was touted as a star in the junior ranks, made rep teams etc...but that didn't flow on to the NRL and couldn't cut it with the big boys. Dogs brought in better players - Kikau, Preston and then added more depth in Curran, Mann etc.

$4 million in lost earnings? I don't ever recall another club ever trying to steal him away from the dogs...was never going to be on 300-400k a year..

 

[Bulldog Bloke]

One of the most important things that might go missed in that latest article i posted above:

Existing issues he did not declare to the club which would be grounds for immediate termination

 

[D0GMATIC]

See @jof post above.

If thats the deets, then thats a fair case. Is it worth $4M, not my call. But if true, the Dogs didn't handle this well. Especially when you can point to Liam Knight.

Liam Knight is an example, I bet there have been physical punishments to others too

 

[CeeEss]

My young bloke was selected to trial for the Dogs jersey flegg squad a few years ago and played in a trial at Belmore. Missed out but still rates that day as one of the best of his life - "I got to play at Belmore in a proper Bulldogs jersey in front of Gus Gould". He's doing well in a highly sought after course at uni and has traveled a fair bit overseas for a young bloke but still rates this as one of his greatest days. He'd do anything to play just one lower grade game for the Bulldogs as I imagine a lot of us would. What an ungrateful young man Topine is, there are literally thousands of young men out there who would have done anything to pull on that jersey even once.

 

[Pity Fool]

There’s not a person on the planet, who wouldn’t gleefully pay even $10m to remove a cancer that was killing them.
We’ve moved on from this, soft, incapable, mistake in our roster.
settle and erase from our history.

To settle is an admission of guilt and sets a dangerous precedent! Fight it till the end I say!