Josh Addo-Carr

Josh Addo-Carr (born 28 July 1995) is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who plays as a er for the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs in the National Rugby League (NRL) and Australia at international level.

He began his career with the Wests Tigers in the NRL. Addo-Carr won the 2017 and the 2020 NRL Premiership with the Storm. At representative level he has played for the Indigenous All Stars, NSW City and helped New South Wales win the 2018 State of Origin in his Origin debut series. He is known as one of the fastest players in the NRL.

Early life

Addo-Carr was born in Blacktown, New South Wales, Australia, and is of Aboriginal descent: from Gunggandji, Birrbay & Wiradjuri people.

Addo-Carr first picked up a football playing for the Doonside Roos as a three-year-old, before his family moved to Earlwood, New South Wales, where he began playing rugby league for the Earlwood Saints.

Addo-Carr attended Matraville Sports High School as a teenager and played his junior rugby league for the La Perouse Panthers and Moore Park. In 2012, Addo-Carr played with the South Sydney Rabbitohs SG Ball team before being released due to an off-field incident. He was then signed by the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks.

Addo-Carr is the grandson of Australian former boxer Wally Carr.

Playing career

Early career

In 2014 and 2015, Addo-Carr played for the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks' National Youth Competition team where he scored 28 tries in 44 matches. On 23 September 2015, he signed a one-year contract with the Wests Tigers starting in 2016.

2016: Wests Tigers

In Round 7, Addo-Carr made his NRL debut for the Wests Tigers against the Melbourne Storm, scoring a try. Coincidentally, Suliasi Vunivalu made his debut on that same day opposite Addo-Carr for the Storm, also scoring a try on debut, Vunivalu would go on to be Addo-Carr's wing partner during his tenure at the Melbourne-based club.

On 6 June, he signed a three-year contract with the Melbourne Storm starting in 2017.

In September, he was named on the wing in the 2016 Intrust Super Premiership NSW Team of the Year.

2017–2021: Melbourne Storm

Addo-Carr made his Melbourne Storm debut in round 1 of the season against the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs at Belmore Sports Ground. In Round 3 against the Brisbane Broncos, Addo-Carr scored his first club try for Melbourne in the final minutes to win the match 14–12 at AAMI Park. On 7 May, he represented City Origin against Country Origin, playing on the wing in the 20–10 win at Mudgee. In round 25 against the South Sydney Rabbitohs, Addo-Carr scored his first career hat-trick of tries in the 64–6 win at AAMI Park. On 31 August 2017, Addo-Carr extended his contract with Melbourne to the end of the 2021 season. He went on to play in 2017 NRL Grand Final and scored two tries to help seal the premiership for the Storm.

In 2018, Addo-Carr was selected to play for New South Wales in the 2018 State of Origin series. He played in all three games as New South Wales won their first origin shield since 2014. In the 2018 NRL Grand Final, Carr scored an 85-metre intercept try in the 21–6 loss to the Sydney Roosters, bringing his year tally to 18 tries from 25 games.

Before the start of the 2019 State of Origin series, Addo-Carr was one of the New South Wales players who declared they would not sing the Australian National Anthem. He played in all 3 games as New South Wales won 2–1 and retained the shield for the first time since 2005. At club level, Addo-Carr made 23 appearances and scored 16 tries as Melbourne finished as minor premiers. Melbourne would go on to reach the preliminary final against the Sydney Roosters but were defeated 14–6.

On 7 October 2019, Addo-Carr Made his international debut for Australia Kangaroos in squads for both the 2019 Rugby League World Cup 9s and Oceania Cup fixtures.

On 27 April, Addo-Carr was fined $1000 by the NRL and placed under investigation after he broke strict lockdown protocols with fellow player Latrell Mitchell by going on a weekend camping trip during the Coronavirus pandemic. He was also placed in further scrutiny for use of a firearm after he posed with and fired a gun in a video posted on his Instagram page. The next day, he was fined an additional $50,000 by the NRL for breaching strict self isolation protocols and for bringing the game into disrepute.

At club level, he went on to win the 2020 NRL Grand Final at Melbourne, finishing his season with 16 tries in 21 appearances. He was later on selected on the wing to represent NSW in the 2020 State of Origin series, scoring two tries in their 14–18 loss in game 1, and two tries in the 34–10 victory in game 2. NSW would end up losing the series 2–1 after defeat to Queensland in Game 3. On 16 December 2020, he signed a four-year deal to join Canterbury-Bankstown from 2022 onwards.

In round 9 of the 2021 NRL season, Addo-Carr scored six tries in Melbourne's 50–0 win over the South Sydney Rabbitohs. In scoring six tries in a single game, Addo-Carr set a new Melbourne Storm club record and became the first player in Australia in 71 years to do so; the last was Jack Troy in 1950 while playing for Newtown.

On 30 May, he was selected for game one of the 2021 State of Origin series. In game two of the series, he scored two tries as New South Wales defeated Queensland 26-0. Addo-Carr played a total of 22 games for Melbourne in the 2021 NRL season and scored 23 tries as the club won 19 matches in a row and claimed the Minor Premiership. He played in the preliminary final where Melbourne suffered a shock 10-6 loss against eventual premiers Penrith.

2022: Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs

In round 1 of the 2022 NRL season, Addo-Carr made his club debut for Canterbury in their 6–4 victory against North Queensland at the Queensland Country Bank Stadium.

In round 6, Addo-Carr scored his first try for Canterbury in their 36–16 loss against South Sydney.
In round 8, Addo-Carr captained the Canterbury side and scored two tries in their upset 16–12 victory over the Sydney Roosters.

On 29 May 2022, Addo-Carr was not selected by New South Wales coach Brad Fittler for game one of the 2022 State of Origin series.

In round 13, Addo-Carr scored two tries for Canterbury in a 30–18 loss against a depleted Penrith side.

In round 14, Addo-Carr scored a hat-trick in Canterbury's 34–4 victory over arch-rivals Parramatta.

On 19 June, Addo-Carr was not selected for game two of the State of Origin series despite his good form at club level with coach Brad Fittler opting to retain the out of form Daniel Tupou.

In round 19, Addo-Carr scored a hat-trick in Canterbury's 36–26 victory over the hapless Gold Coast.

2021 Rugby League World Cup

Addo-Carr was selected in the 24-man squad for the Australian Kangaroos by Mal Meninga to travel to England to compete in the 2021 Rugby League World Cup. He proved the critics wrong, as journalist Paul Crawley said in response to Brad Fittler's controversial decision to not select him for the 2022 State of Origin series: "so from a Canterbury recruitment perspective and Gus is talking about having all this money that is available in 2024, what rep player or future rep player with half a clue would want to go to the Bulldogs knowing it could be the end of your representative career if you go there?" He was accompanied by Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs five-eighth Matt Burton, both representing the Belmore-based club.

Addo-Carr played on the wing against Fiji Bati at Emerald Headingley Stadium in Leeds scoring a double as the Kangaroos won 42-8. Addo-Carr's first try was a spectacular 98 metre run beating Fiji fullback Sunia Turuva. For the second, Addo-Carr in a roaming role picked up a grubber kick from Harry Grant to score next to the posts. After the game, the media posed serious questions to Fittler for making the call not to pick Addo-Carr for the Blues in 2022, in a series they would ultimately lose.

After scoring four tries against Scotland including a "world class" try in the final minute, the "Foxx" was labelled a star, unstoppable and a "freaky man".

In the quarter final of the 2021 Rugby League World Cup, Addo-Carr scored five tries for Australia in a 48–4 victory over Lebanon.

In the semi final of the 2021 Rugby League World cup, Addo-Carr scored one try against the New Zealand Kiwis in a 16-14 win. The try was a cross-field kick by hooker Ben Hunt that was picked up by Addo-Carr and put down on the left side of the field, which equalled the World Cup record of most tries scored in one tournament, set by Valentine Holmes in the 2017 Rugby League World Cup.

Addo-Carr played for Australia in their 2021 Rugby League World Cup final victory over Samoa.

In November he was named in the 2021 RLWC Team of the Tournament.Samoan domination as unlikely halfback earns No.7 jersey: WC Team of the Tournament
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Honours

Club: Melbourne Storm
* 2017 Minor Premiership Winners
* 2017 NRL Grand Final Winners
* 2018 World Club Challenge Winners
* 2018 NRL Grand Final Runner-up
* 2019 Minor Premiership Winners
* 2020 NRL Grand Final Winners
* 2021 Minor Premiership Winners

Representative
* 2018 State of Origin series Winners
* 2019 State of Origin series Winners
* 2021 State of Origin series Winners

International
* 2019 Rugby League World Cup 9s Winners
* 2021 Rugby League World Cup winners

References

External links

Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs profileMelbourne Storm profile

{{DEFAULTSORT:Addo-Carr, Josh
1995 births
Living people
Australia national rugby league team players
Australian rugby league players
Indigenous Australian rugby league players
Melbourne Storm players
New South Wales City Origin rugby league team players
New South Wales Rugby League State of Origin players
People educated at Matraville Sports High School
Rugby league fullbacks
Rugby league players from Blacktown
Rugby league wingers
Wests Tigers NSW Cup players
Wests Tigers players
Wiradjuri
Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs players