The Canterbury Bulldogs have launched their defence of an incident at training surrounding former player Jackson Topine.

The hooker and second-rower is believed to be seeking as much as $4 million in lost earnings, accusing the Bulldogs of physical and mental humiliation.

In 2023, Topine was late to a training session, and, he alleges, forced to wrestle the entire Canterbury squad as punishment.

The training session was, per reports, alleged to have left Topine suffering mentally and physically.

He has not played an NRL game since, cutting short a promising career that at that stage had 16 NRL games alongside 1 for the Maori All Stars.

With a ten-day hearing set for March next year, it's now reported by News Corp that the Bulldogs have lodged documents with the supreme court suggesting Topine consented to the training and punishment, and that he had failed to reveal mental health issues to the club.

“Timely attendance was one of the club's key priorities in the 2023 NRL season,” the Bulldogs' defence is reported to read.

“Improving off-field discipline, including through timely attendance at training sessions, was key to improving on-field discipline in circumstances where the club was one of the most penalised clubs in the NRL at that time.”

The Bulldogs, in their defence, are reported to claim the decision to enforce extra wrestling for Topine as a punishment for being late was 'common practice' within the NRL.

The club claim the additional training lasted no more than six minutes, and that at no point did Topine struggle with the exercise.

It's understood follow up treatment revealed Topine suffered from pre-existing mental health issues that he never informed the club about.

The club then claim they made welfare calls and texts, and continued to pay the forward for the remainder of 2023.

The allegations by the Bulldogs will form their defence in March next year, in what could be a landmark case for the NRL more broadly, regardless of the result.

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