{"id":890753,"date":"2026-09-13T17:32:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-13T17:32:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/890753\/"},"modified":"2026-09-13T17:32:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-13T17:32:11","slug":"nrl-2026-todd-carney-hopes-to-be-nrl-coach-one-day-three-years-sober-friendship-with-mitchell-pearce","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/890753\/","title":{"rendered":"NRL 2026: Todd Carney hopes to be NRL coach one day, three years sober, friendship with Mitchell Pearce"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former rugby league bad boy Todd Carney says he has aspirations to coach in the NRL one day after turning his life around.<\/p>\n

Carney, the 2010 Dally M Medal winner, is back involved with the game as a coach at the Keebra Park rugby league academy on the Gold Coast, where he is a fulltime junior pathways coach at the Titans. <\/p>\n

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Matty Johns, a shareholder of the Gold Coast Titans, has praised Carney\u2019s ability as a junior coach and previously said he sees the former Canberra, Sharks and Roosters star as a future NRL coach. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve seen first hand the work you\u2019re doing coaching at Keebra Park, coaching at the Titans,\u201d Johns said to Carney on Finals Footy with Matty Johns on Kayo Sports. <\/p>\n

\u201cDo you see yourself in the future \u2026 would you like to be an NRL coach?\u201d<\/p>\n

Carney replied: \u201cI get quite confused when I get asked this question because I\u2019m so unsure. <\/p>\n

\u201cI respect the game so much and I respect how hard head coaches work. I\u2019ve got a young family and they\u2019ll always be a priority at the start. But in years to come, definitely.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I like about coaching at the moment is I like working with the younger generation because I know how hard it is. But also I like to get a relationship with them.<\/p>\n

Carney gave an insight into his coaching philosophy, saying: \u201cA lot of people say \u2018You\u2019ve got to do this\u2019 and don\u2019t tell them the reason why. They always say you\u2019ve just got to do it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe if you teach them why they\u2019re doing it before you teach them how to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carney said he was taking a gradual approach to his coaching career.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like the junior stuff,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s plenty of time for it (NRL coaching) to come. It\u2019s baby steps for me. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m enjoying it and I feel if I\u2019m rushed into it, the enjoyment part might go and the pressure comes on. I like being out of the pressure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Johns told Carney: \u201cWhat you\u2019re doing at the moment is pure coaching, helping players improve. <\/p>\n

\u201cToddy, I\u2019m not going to say I\u2019m surprised by it because I know how smart you are and you\u2019re eloquent, you talk well. <\/p>\n

\u201cMate, you\u2019re an outstanding coach. The work you\u2019re doing with the young players up there is fantastic.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carney infamously had his playing contract with the Cronulla Sharks torn up as a result of a lewd \u201cbubbler\u201d photo<\/a>, which showed him urinating into his own mouth. <\/p>\n

Carney shot into the NRL spotlight as a 17-year-old, however, his career was derailed by a series of off-field incidents that saw him sacked from Canberra and released by the Sydney Roosters as a result of alcohol-related incidents.<\/p>\n

The 40-year-old and former Roosters teammate Mitchell Pearce have formed a close bond since hanging up the boots, and they are now both more than three years sober and have started the Reboot Mindset Academy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had a great relationship with Pearcey as a player but the friendship\u2019s grown so much,\u201d Carney explained.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe get quite emotional about it. We went on the journey together and I believe we\u2019ve both kept each other honest about it and we have hard conversations. <\/p>\n

\u201cBefore we sort of touch the piss out of each other, this time it\u2019s more personal. It\u2019s something we\u2019re passionate about because we probably didn\u2019t get the benefit out of it when we were younger. Hopefully we can change a few people\u2019s lives along the way. <\/p>\n

\u201cTime was enough for us. We\u2019re nearly three and a half years sober now, both of us. I always put my hand up and say I\u2019ve had a few slip-ups along the way. I\u2019m not perfect and I never will be.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former rugby league bad boy Todd Carney says he has aspirations to coach in the NRL one day…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":890754,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[407230,393135,460329,460334,424414,386792,389523,460344,460332,460318,460342,384226,455379,460325,460340,376730,379284,420596,391059,380260,376435,460320,387686,460322,376965,402455,460317,460339,64,63,141363,2667,177289,3181,13284,379391,377206,377159,61783,387050,460349,763,460331,54980,379545,387739,460326,381378,389167,460333,460343,338602,460354,62756,38311,377208,460348,18656,52537,460335,403195,761,762,277557,460341,377169,158,460345,460351,460328,460324,307881,455202,460323,1861,38633,7820,46677,460347,460337,159,460353,85,460336,388329,418001,460338,460355,460352,421129,131558,74713,46675,460330,392357,460319,460346,225862,380184,377224,460327,450434,391379,377171,460321,376950,435196,39937,214758,381772,460350,447165,460316,424209,378871,6618,244984,32388,100843,377211],"class_list":["post-890753","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-s-ability","tag-s-lives","tag-40-year-old-and-former-roosters-teammate-mitchell-pearce","tag-a-17-year-old","tag-a-close-bond","tag-a-coach","tag-a-few-people","tag-a-few-slip-ups","tag-a-fulltime-junior-pathways-coach","tag-a-future-nrl-coach","tag-a-gradual-approach","tag-a-great-relationship","tag-a-headline","tag-a-junior-coach","tag-a-lewd-bubbler-photo","tag-a-lot","tag-a-player","tag-a-priority","tag-a-relationship","tag-a-result","tag-a-series","tag-a-shareholder","tag-a-young-family","tag-alcohol-related-incidents-the","tag-an-insight","tag-an-nrl-coach","tag-an-outstanding-coach","tag-aspirations","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-baby-steps","tag-canberra","tag-carney","tag-coach","tag-coaching","tag-each-other","tag-every-game","tag-every-round","tag-finals-footy","tag-first-hand","tag-former-rugby-league-bad-boy-todd-carney","tag-fox-league","tag-hard-conversations","tag-head-coaches","tag-his-career","tag-his-coaching-career","tag-his-coaching-philosophy","tag-his-dream","tag-his-life","tag-his-own-mouth","tag-his-playing-contract","tag-johns","tag-just-1-matty-johns","tag-kayo","tag-kayo-sports","tag-kayo-sports-new","tag-keebra-park","tag-matty-johns","tag-mitchell-pearce","tag-more-than-three-years","tag-my-hand","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-ncaeditorialkayoprogram","tag-nearly-three-and-a-half-years","tag-no-ad-breaks","tag-nrl","tag-nrl-coach-dream","tag-nrl-coaching","tag-nrl-comeback","tag-off-field-incidents","tag-one-day","tag-our-new-app","tag-pearcey","tag-people","tag-play","tag-players","tag-plenty","tag-pure-coaching","tag-reformed-rugby-league-bad-boy-todd-carney","tag-rugby-league","tag-sharks-and-roosters-star","tag-sports","tag-the-2010-dally-m-medal-winner","tag-the-benefit","tag-the-boots","tag-the-cronulla-sharks","tag-the-enjoyment-part","tag-the-former-canberra","tag-the-friendship","tag-the-future","tag-the-game","tag-the-gold-coast","tag-the-gold-coast-titans","tag-the-journey","tag-the-junior-stuff","tag-the-keebra-park-rugby-league-academy","tag-the-moment","tag-the-nrl","tag-the-nrl-premiership-live","tag-the-nrl-spotlight","tag-the-piss","tag-the-pressure","tag-the-reason","tag-the-reboot-mindset-academy","tag-the-start","tag-the-sydney-roosters","tag-the-titans","tag-the-way","tag-the-work","tag-the-young-players","tag-the-younger-generation","tag-them-carney","tag-this-question","tag-this-time","tag-time","tag-todd-carney","tag-years","tag-younger","tag-your-first-month"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/890753","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=890753"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/890753\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/890754"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=890753"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=890753"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=890753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}