Despite the fallout from Manly's season launch debacle, sacked NRL star Todd Carney will be allowed to drink at team functions and after games at his new club.

And being based at a hotel will provide the "wake-up call" the troubled playmaker needs to turn his career around, according to his new employer.

The ex-Canberra half will settle into his new life in far north Queensland on Wednesday after agreeing to stay away from his hometown of Goulburn for 12 months following his latest brush with the law.

Player alcohol bans have become a major issue following Manly's boozy team function.

And Carney is no stranger to an alcohol-related controversy.

Eyebrows were raised when it was revealed Carney would live and work at a country pub as part of his one-year deal with the Atherton Roosters in the Cairns league.

But the man who threw Carney a bush footy lifeline, Roosters president Mick Nasser, said his prized recruit would be allowed to drink - within reason.

"He can drink after games and at team functions. But nothing out of the ordinary - he knows that," Nasser told AAP.

"There won't be any nights out on the town when we are in Cairns.

"The last thing he needs is someone taking a picture of him in a Cairns nightclub with a beer in his hand - the headlines would start all over again.

"But he doesn't have to be told that. He knows this is the last chance."

Last August Carney, 22, was sacked by the Raiders and deregistered by the NRL following a string of alcohol-related incidents.

Nasser said he was aware of Carney's latest arrest at Goulburn before the Roosters signed him last week in one of bush footy's biggest coups.

Carney, 22, was due to face charges of damaging a motor vehicle at Goulburn on April 1 but had the matter brought forward to Tuesday in order to start his Roosters deal.

He was handed a 12 month suspended sentence and also agreed not to live in the Goulburn area over that period.

"It convinces me even more that a move up north is just what he needs," Nasser said.

"He'll be working 40 hours a week at the hotel, as well as training and playing footy on the weekend which is what he is itching to do.

"It will sort him out I reckon.

"Idle time almost proved fatal (for his career) in the past. There is plenty to do on the (Atherton) Tablelands."

Carney's new home will be the Nasser-run Barron Valley Hotel.

Nasser was confident a glimpse of life "from the other side" would change Carney.

"As part of his hospitality training he will do a course on responsible service of alcohol," he said.

"We will ease him into bar work.

"Seeing it from the other side will open his eyes. Hopefully it sinks in for him.

"It will be a wake up call for him."

Nasser said Carney's mother Leanne and other family members would regularly visit.

Carney begins work on Thursday morning and starts training that night.

He makes his debut against Southern Suburbs at Atherton on Saturday night.

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