Former rugby league bad boy Darrell Trindall has admitted he was high on ice when police spotted him driving erratically along a major NSW highway in bizarre scenes revealed in court documents.
The former South Sydney Rabbitohs and Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs playmaker pleaded guilty to driving under the influence of drugs following the September 2025 incident near Singleton, west of Newcastle.
Court documents tendered before the Downing Centre Local Court stated Highway Patrol officers observed Trindall driving 30km/h below the speed limit in an emergency stopping lane with his hazard lights flashing on the New England Highway.
'His arm was hanging out of the open window, waving at passing cars,' the agreed facts stated. 'The vehicle was observed to be accelerating and braking in an erratic manner.'
Police said the 54-year-old appeared heavily affected by drugs when he was eventually stopped. Officers noted Trindall had pinpoint pupils, sweaty skin and was behaving in a 'highly erratic and easily distracted' manner while making 'exaggerating gestures' including sticking out his tongue and fidgeting constantly.
'His speech was fast, jumbled, and difficult to understand,' the court documents stated. 'He was unable to maintain a train of thought or engage in conversation without becoming distracted or confused.'
Trindall later admitted to police he had travelled overnight from Sydney to Tamworth and had been smoking methamphetamine during the drive. 'During that drive, he had smoked an unknown quantity of methamphetamine "ice" being about $100 worth,' the agreed facts stated.
Drug testing later returned positive readings for amphetamine and methylamphetamine, with a pharmacologist determining Trindall was under the influence of ice to the extent his driving ability was impaired.
The former Rabbitohs captain, once one of rugby league's most gifted and unpredictable playmakers, was sentenced to a 12-month community corrections order, fined $750 and disqualified from driving for 12 months.
Trindall played 192 first-grade games across spells with South Sydney, St Helens, Sheffield Eagles and Canterbury after debuting in 1990. He captained the Rabbitohs in 1997 and 1998 and represented the Indigenous Australian side at the 1992 Pacific Cup.
His struggles off the field have played out publicly for more than two decades. In 2022, the NSW Supreme Court heard Trindall had battled meth addiction and alcoholism after retiring from rugby league, with his lawyer saying the former halfback had suffered repeated relapses following the death of his mother in 2020.
Trindall's lawyer David Ryan made the revelations in court as his client faced four charges relating to allegations of domestic violence and driving a motor vehicle while his licence was suspended. Trindall was seeking bail after pleading not guilty to all charges: one count of driving a motor vehicle while licence suspended, two counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, one count of stalk/intimidate intending to fear physical harm (domestic) and one count of common assault.
