Bulldogs boss Phil Gould has revealed Josh Addo-Carr has stood himself down from the final against Manly amid his police investigation over an alleged failed roadside drug test.
“Josh vehemently defends himself here and his innocence in this matter and as far as he is concerned he’s done nothing wrong,” Gould told reporters on Tuesday at a press conference.
“That he has taken no drugs and he doesn’t understand why he tested positive once at this road side test on Friday night.
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“However, putting the club first and the team first Josh has made the decision to stand down from this week’s game and not make himself available, so the team can get on with its preparation and the media can get on with promoting the game.
“I think that is a great thing to do on behalf of the club and the team, but I want to emphasise that Josh believes he is completely innocent.
“He has been quite concerned with what has happened in the last 24 hours and can’t understand how he has tested positive to this initial road side test that he had.
“There were a number of things that happened over the weekend. Josh came and reported this to us straight away on the Saturday morning after he had been tested on the Friday night.
“As far as he was concerned at the time that would be the end of the matter.
“I’m convinced that when Josh left the scene of the road side test on Friday night that he was convinced that would be the end of it and that’s probably the way he represented it to us.”
On Monday it was revealed the superstar winger was pulled over by police for a random test after leaving the Bulldogs’ captain’s run at Accor Stadium on Friday night.
According to NSW Police he then returned an initial positive result. Both Addo-Carr and the Bulldogs are awaiting the result of a second test.
Nine’s Danny Weidler, however, reported on Tuesday morning that Addo-Carr is now expected to be stood down for the Bulldogs’ must-win final.
It comes as the Australian’s Brent Read revealed Bulldogs boss Phil Gould was blindsided after initially being told by Addo-Carr that he returned a negative result.
“He underwent an initial test and that was a positive test,” Read said on NRL360 on Monday.
“They then did a second test on Josh and we are still awaiting the results of that test.
“The situation got to Josh telling the club about it. I’m not sure if they were aware of the initial positive test because Phil Gould put out a comment on Twitter that it was two negative tests.
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“I understand there is a meeting going on right now between Josh and Phil Gould. We have got to see what comes out of that but it is obviously the last thing they need on the eve of the finals.”
Earlier on Monday Gould took to X, formerly Twitter, to dismiss suggestions Addo-Carr had failed the test before providing clarification on Nine’s 100 % Footy.
“The way it was reported to us [by Addo-Carr] Saturday morning felt that he was rather very dismissive of it,” Gould said on Monday night.
“That there was no drama, that he hadn’t tested positive to anything and that they allowed him to drive home and sent him on his way.
“I’d kind of forgotten about it until he rang me this morning and said that there was some phone calls he got from players at other clubs, and his wife had got some phone calls that this was bubbling around.
“And then people in the media started to make some [calls] and I spoke to our chairman. I said, ‘I spoke to Josh about this over the weekend twice and his description of events is that we’ve got nothing to worry about and he’s got nothing to worry about’.
“But as it turns out, this afternoon, there are now conflicting reports from the police and the way they’ve described the events, which has led me now to sit down with Josh Addo-Carr and his manager face to face at five o’clock this afternoon to go through exactly how things unfolded and what’s happened.”
The Daily Telegraph’s Phil Rothfield said the incident left Gould “embarrassed”.
“(Addo-Carr met with Gus on Monday afternoon and he could be slightly embarrassed by it.
“(Gould) put out a tweet saying everything was sweet because he hadn’t failed a test.”
“There is enormous confusion over it in that Josh Addo-Carr when he told the Bulldogs, even if he didn’t say that he tested positive, they informed the integrity unit on Saturday.
“They have been keeping an eye on it for 48 hours. The other interesting thing is Josh Addo-Carr has taken himself off to his own doctor today to get a third test done.”
This is not the first time Addo-Carr has got on the wrong side of Gould, with reports last year that the Bulldogs were trying to offload his hefty pay packet to fast track their rebuild.
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