Penrith sack Anthony Griffin as Phil Gould moves to push Panthers towards a premiership
AFTER all the denials and whispers, Phil Gould made the decision. Sacking his coach on the eve of the NRL finals isn’t ideal — but it's a sign that Gus believes his team can be champions, writes PAUL KENT.
Opinion
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SACKING Anthony Griffin is the surest sign yet Phil Gould believes Penrith can win the premiership this season.
Not next year and not the year after, but now.
The Panthers have operated in a world of shadow and smoke all season.
Gould and Griffin have not seen eye-to-eye but every query about their fractured relationship was quietly deflected as nothing more than ignorant interference from the meddling media.
SHOCK SACKING: Griffin lost the dressing room, says Gould
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Gould, after all, was the general manager of football who interviewed nobody for the job after sacking Ivan Cleary because he had already identified Griffin as the man.
Trying to determine where it soured is like trying to catch smoke.
Gould and Griffin have different ideas on the game.
LISTEN! Buzz Rothfield grills Phil Gould on the reasons behind the sacking of Penrith coach Anthony Griffin.
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Gould has exercised his right as Griffin’s boss at various times throughout his stint. The most notable came in 2016 when Gould stepped in and restructured their attack and the Panthers went on a run that nearly claimed it all.
Griffin had the strength to step back and let Gould do his thing. But he did not agree with everything Gould preached and eventually it proved too much.
The two tried to work together.
Late last year Gould was adamant Penrith’s marquee player Matt Moylan was going nowhere.
Speculation about Moylan’s future filled the newspapers. It was a daily discussion on social media.
Then a coffee between Gould and assistant coach Cameron Ciraldo changed everything.
Ciraldo had a close relationship with Moylan and told Gould that, frankly, Moylan would not play under Griffin. Too much bad blood already.
Gould supported his coach and within days orchestrated the swap with Cronulla. Moylan for James Maloney.
This, after previously declaring it would not happen.
More problems were identified, mostly whether Griffin had it in him to get the Panthers to a premiership.
Gould had a solution for that, too.
Griffin would stay on and see over discipline and media within the club, working at the storefront, while Ciraldo and Gould would gently take more control of the football operation behind the scenes.
It was nothing too unusual.
Gould, one of rugby league’s great intellects, had already stepped in at various times to restructure the Panthers’ attack.
Gould and Ciraldo both expanded their on-field roles at training. It was an interference that was always going to end poorly.
When reporters began asking about Griffin standing on the sideline while Gould or Ciraldo ran a training session it was passed off as a simple change in pace.
Why would you have the depth of knowledge that Gould possesses, it went, and not tap into it?
It was shadow and smoke.
There came reports of a blue between Gould and Griffin in the tunnel during a trial game.
The Panthers responded by banning the media that reported it. Publicly it was denied.
As speculation mounted that Griffin would be the first coach sacked this season the Panthers gently laughed it off as nothing more than people assuming too much.
Bad decisions are often made in times of crisis. The Panthers continued presenting a strong front as the whispers around the dissolving relationship grew stronger.
It all became too much last month when Griffin and Gould had another blue.
Details are sketchy.
Gould told Griffin he wanted it done a certain way and Griffin resisted.
It was a shocking misread from Griffin. He might not agree, but Gould was the boss.
The Panthers held a board meeting soon after and they considered sacking him.
A few solitary voices spoke for Griffin. The Panthers had sacked Matthew Elliott and then Cleary and they didn’t want to Griffin to be the third straight coach to go early.
Griffin might have survived the meeting but he was dead man walking from that point.
Yesterday it got too much. The charade was done.
Nothing had improved around the place and the speculation about Griffin’s future could no longer be denied and was becoming a distraction.
The Panthers are capable of doing something worthy in this year’s premiership but the conflict behind the scenes was beginning to undermine their work.
Do it now while they were still a chance at doing something in the finals.
After all the denials and whispers, the shadow and smoke, it means nothing is impossible.
It has been the narrative around the Panthers all season.
For weeks Gould has been saying, with a hefty certainty to it, that Wayne Bennett will not coach the Broncos in 2019.
It sounded absurd on the surface.
Now, though, the possibility is mouth watering.