Addo-Carr: ‘I’ve done nothing wrong… my name will be cleared in time’

Right up until follow-up results returned, Josh Addo-Carr was professing his innocence and staunchly denied taking cocaine, even declaring his name “would be cleared in time” in a quote shared to media on Friday.

Addo-Carr has now been suspended from driving for three months and fined $682 in place of facing a court battle after his second roadside test allegedly came back positive for cocaine.

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Before the second test (which is still only allegedly a positive result) returned, Addo-Carr was supremely confident he would be cleared, maintaining he never took any illegal substances. This staunch stance from the Bulldogs winger even extended to his first words on the subject, where he declared his innocence in an SMH story.

“First of all I want to say sorry to my team and our fans for all headlines and discussion around me and the club,” he said. “I know I’ve done nothing wrong and my name will be cleared in time. It’s frustrating the club has to deal with this situation and I feel awful. I want it to be known I didn’t take drugs and I look forward to my name being cleared.

“I want to thank everyone at the club,” he added, “especially Gus [general manager Phil Gould], [chairman] Adam [Driussi] and [coach] Cameron [Ciraldo].

“Until my name is cleared, I will do whatever is best for the team. My entire focus is on today [the elimination final against Manly] and my heart is with the boys.

“I hope I get the chance to show what the club means to me next week.”

These quotes were run in the Sydney paper after Addo-Carr’s second test allegedly returned positive, though he asked Danny Weidler to still include them despite the second results.

Things are all still up in the air around the Addo-Carr saga, with The Sporting Base hearing earlier this week Canterbury had already been looking into offloading Addo-Carr (and his hefty $600,000 contract) early if they could. He’s signed through to 2025 but Bulldogs powerbrokers were privately investigating if any other teams would want his services.

The biggest sticking point will be what he did and didn’t say to club officials and how much he truly believed. He had told the Bulldogs bosses he never took cocaine, leading Gus Gould to defend him across social media, only for the second test to allegedly ping positive. The 29-year-old has already been stood down and will likely be fined too.

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Addo-Carr’s agent Mario Tartek has also told Sydney media Addo-Carr won’t be attending the Bulldogs’ match at Homebush on Sunday afternoon to “ensure there’s no distractions” for the team.