The NRL say they won’t hesitate in coming down hard on Todd Carney if justified, with the Cronulla five-eighth again in the spotlight for an alcohol-related incident.

As rugby league immortal Andrew Johns defended Carney after a disturbing photo of the troubled NRL star was posted on social media, NRL head of football Todd Greenberg said the game’s governing body was not “jumping to conclusions” on the matter.

The 2010 Dally M Medallist could face the sack from the Sharks and be charged with bringing the game into disrepute and Greenberg said the NRL would not shirk from taking a tough stance on Carney, who has a string of off-field incidents to his name, once the facts were known.

“We have simply been in touch with the Sharks this morning and they are dealing with the matter as we speak,” Greenberg told Triple M NRL on Sunday.

“We have a process for these sorts of things that the club will work through and they will make a determination with us at some point in time.

“It is important these things go through the Integrity Unit.

“If there is one thing we have seen under Dave Smith’s leadership the last 12 months, we will do things consistently and appropriately through the process.

“We are not shy of making hard decision when they need to be made.

“But we have to do it in the fullness of the information when that becomes known.”

Greenberg said the NRL would stay in regular contact with the Sharks with a sanction likely to be handed down early this week.

“We will be judged on how we deal with the issues but we have to deal with them appropriately and we have to deal with them properly,” he said.

“There’s not much use anyone jumping to conclusions today.

“I haven’t actually seen the photo. I have heard a lot about it … clearly there is a lot of work to be done before we come to a decision.

“Where we have to make tough decisions we will make them.”

The image published on Twitter on Saturday night shows Carney standing at a urinal and he appears to be engaged in an unsavoury act.

But Johns said he felt Carney couldn’t be sacked by the Sharks over the incident.

“Surely they couldn’t sack him for that,” Johns said on Channel Nine’s Sunday Footy Show.

“It’s silly … it’s stupid (but) he is only doing it to himself.”

The photo is believed to have been taken in Sydney on Saturday night, not in Brisbane during the Sharks’ celebrations after their dramatic upset win over the Broncos, in which Carney starred.

Cronulla are expected to release a media statement on Sunday evening.

It’s the latest incident in Carney’s colourful career which has been marred by alcohol-related issues.

The former NSW representative was banned from playing in the NRL in 2009 due to repeated alcohol-related incidents when he was at Canberra.

Carney joined Cronulla in 2012 after being sacked by the Sydney Roosters for breaking a club-issued alcohol ban in 2011.

He had linked with the Roosters following a year playing rugby league in regional Queensland.