Todd Carney playing for the Canberra Raiders in 2008. "No, we would not consider signing Todd under these or any other conditions despite reports speculating otherwise,'' Furner said. The 28-year-old Goulburn product was given numerous chances by the Raiders before he eventually had his contract torn up six years ago. He was consigned to bush football in Queensland in 2009, then won the Dally M Medal with the Sydney Roosters in his comeback season in 2010. Carney was sacked by the Roosters the following year, joining the Sharks in 2012.

Speaking on Canberra radio station 2CC on Friday morning, White was asked if he would be happy to have Carney at the Raiders next year. ''If he committed to no alcohol, certainly I would,'' White said. "I think Todd is a nice guy, I just think he's one of those guys that can't drink. ''If he was able to commit to something like that, he'd be fantastic. ''He'd be great to have at the Raiders, but I guess that's up to the NRL and Todd himself.''

The NRL hasn't issued a life ban to Carney, but would be extremely unlikely to register a contract for him given his off-field history. The NRL's salary cap changes for next year include a ''no dickheads policy'' that allows clubs to sack misbehaving players without being financially penalised for doing so. White said the Sharks had made the right decision given the damage that Carney's actions had done to the profile of the game. ''It's really disappointing the things that have gone on,'' White said. ''We can't have that sort of stuff go on in rugby league.

''We've got a fight on our hands against soccer, AFL, rugby union, and sport as a whole has a fight on its hands to get kids out from in the front of TV screens, so we really need to have good role models. ''It's just unfortunate, his actions go across to all the kids out there. ''The first thing I worry about as a father with two kids at school is what they hear, what they see and what gets said in the playground because their father is an NRL player. "I quite like Todd and I think he would have been great down here at the Raiders. ''We certainly need someone who can score us some points at the moment.''