Former Super League star ‘sacked’ by NRL club after drink-driving charge
James Maloney
Former Catalans Dragons half-back James Maloney has been sacked by NRL club North Queensland Cowboys after reportedly being charged with drink-driving.
The Cowboys have qualified for this year’s NRL play-offs, and Maloney has been an influential figure in their 2024 campaign after joining the club as an assistant coach at the beginning of the campaign.
But he has now left the club after a drink-driving charge, according to reports in Australia.
Cowboys GM Micheal Luck admitted to AAP that Maloney had left the club, but refused to divulge on any further details. “The only thing I will say is that James has left our employment and it was a fairly amicable departure,” Luck said.
“It is a staff matter so we won’t be commenting any further.”
However, Maloney confirmed to reporters in Australia that he had been dismissed due to what he described as a ‘low-range’ drink-driving charge, but stressed that he held no grudges against the Cowboys.
Instead, he admitted the situation ‘wasn’t acceptable’. Maloney said: “It was only a low-range charge, it wasn’t excessively over. The club’s position was that in my role as a leader and in coaching, it wasn’t acceptable.
“Personally, I’m disappointed in myself that my mistake has become a distraction for the club at this time of the year. We’re not in normal jobs unfortunately and things like this are unacceptable in the NRL.”
Maloney, a two-time Grand Final winner with Sydney Roosters and Cronulla Sharks, came to Super League at the start of the 2020 season after agreeing a deal to join Catalans Dragons.
He helped guide them to the 2021 Grand Final, in which the Dragons lost to St Helens. That proved to be Maloney’s final game as a professional: though he remained in France after joining Lezignan.
However, he subsequently returned to Australia and agreed a two-year deal to join the Cowboys’ coaching staff at the start of this season. But he has now been dismissed after the alleged off-field incident.
READ NEXT: Great Britain legend tips Hull KR to ‘definitely’ be part of ‘new-look’ Super League Grand Final
