NRL: Carney suing Sharks for $3m after lewd photo dismissal

Todd Carney. Photo / Getty

Todd Carney is suing Cronulla for close to AU$3 million in what he calls a bid to protect fellow players.

The troubled former Australian playmaker was sacked by the NRL club in June last year after a lewd photo purporting to show him urinating in his own mouth emerged online.

Carney and his lawyers on Monday met with the Rugby League Players Association as he prepares to sue the club for unfair dismissal.

Earlier in the year he won a claim before the NRL Appeals Committee after he argued they denied him a chance to plead his case before the club board.

The former NSW State of Origin halfback said he learned of his sacking from teammate Wade Graham before being given the chance to give his side of the story.

"I feel I was harshly done by. Some people don't," Carney told the Nine Network.

"I want it to be cleaned up because I think one day the club might think back to what's happened to me and it might help another player."

Carney resumed his playing career in France with Super League club Catalans and last month signed a three-year contract extension.

However he did not rule out a return to Australia, saying he still got goosebumps watching the game.

Carney has a lengthy rap sheet, having previously been sacked by Canberra and Sydney Roosters for alcohol-related issues.

He was axed by the Raiders in 2008 after being accused of urinating on a patron in a nightclub while he was let go by the Roosters for breaching an alcohol ban in 2011, the year after guiding them to the premiership and winning the Dally M.

While he has a chequered past, his lawyer Julieanne Levick said Cronulla had not followed due process by allowing him a hearing.

"If they had acted reasonably in the first instance we wouldn't be here now," she said.

"It would've been settled."

-AAP