Former NRL player Paul Carter has been placed on a two-year good-behaviour bond for supplying cocaine to an ex-Sydney Roosters teammate at a nightclub.
Carter, who played 40 games for South Sydney, Gold Coast and the Roosters and recently signed with Cessnock, was charged after police saw him pass a small amount of cocaine to then-teammate Shaun Kenny-Dowall at Sydney's Ivy Nightclub on May 4, 2017.
Carter initially denied the charge but in October it emerged he'd changed his plea to guilty. The following month, the 25-year-old missed a court appearance because he was in an overseas rehabilitation centre, leading a magistrate to blast his no-show as "absolutely unacceptable".
Court documents show the cocaine incident occurred when Carter went out with teammates including Kenny-Dowall and Mitchell Pearce.
The group caught an Uber to the Ivy where the unknown man shook hands with security staff and introduced Carter, who was then directed to an entry line that required no identification to be scanned.
About 1am, Carter was observed by police in a corner of the club speaking on his phone before Kenny-Dowall approached him and was passed .29 of a gram of cocaine.
Detectives arrested Kenny-Dowall, who refused to co-operate other than to say he got the drugs from "a mate". Kenny-Dowall, who now plays for Newcastle, was previously spared a conviction after he pleaded guilty to possessing cocaine at the nightclub.
He was placed on a 12-month good behaviour bond in June.
Carter was recorded on CCTV leaving the club and called Pearce and Knight.
Subsequent police inquiries showed Carter's phone also contacted Roosters executive assistant Cathy Kelly, who the next morning called Roosters CEO Joe Kelly, Roosters Group CEO Scott McDonald, Kenny-Dowall and a sports psychologist, among others.
The Roosters announced on June 7 Carter had been released from his contract.
Two days later, Carter left Australia and told a friend he was attending The Cabin in Chiang Mai, Thailand, for rehabilitation.
