Inside the Sheds

THE Todd Carney situation is only going to get uglier before it gets better. Right now there's a Mexican standoff happening between Carney, his agent and the Canberra Raiders.

All the mail says Carney's gone from Canberra. The first reason is because he won't accept his ban from training and playing for the rest of this season. The second reason is because he's trying to fight the club on his alcohol ban.

The final reason is Carney being out on the grog again last Saturday night, probably not the sharpest move he's ever made considering the predicament he's in at the moment.

So the talk is he's going to go over to England, most likely Bradford Bulls, then come back and play at Penrith. Co-incidentally, Bradford is the same club where Matt Elliott coached in the UK. You join the dots.

Whether or not this happens hinges on Carney's agent, Dave Riolo, and the Raiders. If they can sort something out so he stays in Canberra, it's all sweet. But if there's no middle ground, it's adios, the NRL will de-register him and Carney has to go to England.

Two other talking points right now are Frank Pritchard and Johnathan Thurston. There's plenty of NRL players willing to tell you these two are headed for French rugby, if not this year then certainly down the track. The NRL needs to step in here. Something, anything will do, other than the jibberish lip service coming out of Moore Park headquarters.

WHAT about David Gallop calling on the International Rugby Board to step in and help the Sonny Bill Williams situation. I was dead-set choking on my Sunday morning settler until I heard him say the words "international piracy", which made me accidentally kick the whole carton off the coffee table. What a complete gee up.

First we're asking a rival code for help, then we're off to the movies to see Pirates of the Carribean. In the for real department, can we just come up with some more cash please. I like Darren Lockyer's idea about taking the top 30 players and topping up their contracts. Except I'd make it the top 50.

I'VE been saying it all season, but after last Monday night's performance I'll say it again. Parramatta look like shot birds and if they don't come up with something quick, they're going to end up a rotting carcus next season. For starters, Michael Hagan is under the pump. Both Daniel Anderson and Stephen Kearney's names have been mentioned and Denis Fitzgerald's denials only strengthen the argument.

On the playing roster, Nathan Cayless has lost it, Daniel Wagon and Chad Robinson aren't NRL standard backrowers anymore and the Eels don't seem to have many answers. Watch for them to try and offload a few of their top 25 to free up cash to buy Antonio Kaufusi and possibly another backrower.