Jackson Topine: Footy star 'has a secret weapon' in $4million lawsuit against his club for allegedly making 35 of his teammates assault him until he couldn't stand

Teammates of ex-Bulldogs star Jackson Topine are reportedly prepared to back his bombshell $4million lawsuit against the club alleging  he was assaulted by up to 35 of his teammates during a brutal punishment handed out in July last year.

The 22-year-old is accusing the team of hitting him with 'an unlawful corporal punishment' when he was 'detained' at a Sydney gym and made to wrestle 30 to 35 of his fellow Bulldogs as punishment for being eight to 10 minutes late to training.

His lawsuit alleges the disciplinary action carried out on the orders of head trainer Travis Touma amounted to 'assault and battery' and left him with 'psychiatric injury' and 'physical and mental impairment'.

Now some Bulldogs stars who saw the wrestling punishment are prepared to back Topine by providing witness statements to help his case if the matter is heard in court, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.

The alleged incident on July 18, 2023 saw the 22-year-old made to wrestle all of the club's senior squad for 30 seconds at a time, leading to one Bulldogs star telling the publication, 'It wasn't wrestling, it was humiliation.'

The lawsuit alleges Touma enforced the penalty on Topine after the players had already completed an intense 90-minute wrestling session.

Touma is accused of refusing to end the wrestling punishment despite Topine showing obvious signs of distress and exhaustion, with the court statement saying, 'Each player in the Bulldogs roster, who were the plaintiff's opponents in wrestling match-ups, possessed high levels of fitness and strength.'

The grappling continued even though other team members pointed out Topine was suffering and Touma said words along the lines of 'don't let him up if he's down, jump on him straight away', the lawsuit alleges. 

Touma is also accused of refusing to let other players help the 22-year-old and saying, 'don't congratulate or help him. He deserved that. He was f**king late.' 

The young star was so physically spent afterwards that he was unable to stand or walk without help, according to the court statement, which also alleges he was unaware of why he was being punished because he thought he'd arrived 20 minutes early for the session. 

'The board unanimously agreed that it would vigorously defend the club and its employee Travis Touma against the claim lodged today by a former player,' Canterbury chairman Adam Driussi said on Wednesday. 

Shortly after the alleged incident, media reports surfaced that an unnamed player was made to grapple with several players as punishment for being late.

Topine's lawyer Abdul Reslan said the lawsuit would have a big effect on the NRL and told the publication, 'appropriate protections need to be afforded to all workplaces, including within the contact sports domain.' 

Reports surfaced last year around player discontent at the Bulldogs over training methods, with former captain Raymond Faitala-Mariner raising them with management before later leaving the club.

At the time, Canterbury general manager Phil Gould backed the hardline stance of coaching staff under Cameron Ciraldo, without referring directly to the Topine incident given he was unnamed at the time.

'We're the worst team in the competition right now and have been for some time,' Gould said on the Six Tackles With Gus podcast last August.

'The coach [Ciraldo] and the staff are certainly making no apologies for the intensity with which they train.'

Ciraldo also said last August that punishments had been dished out during his tenure, with the club desperate to turn things around after last playing finals in 2016.

'Nothing comes without hard work. We have one long day a week and if you get the last massage you're probably leaving at 5.30pm,' Ciraldo said at the time.

Topine - who captained the NSW and Australian schoolboy sides and was regarded as one of the brighter young talents at the club - has not played rugby league since the alleged punishment.

He starred in 16 NRL games for the Dogs from 2021-2023, scoring one try, and represented the Maori All Stars in 2021.

The Auckland-born forward first joined the Bulldogs in 2018, when he was playing on a scholarship at Sydney's East Hills Boys High School, and he also starred for the Australian Schoolboys side in 2019.