Phil Gould reveals his concerns about the NRL and they way the game is managed at League Central

BUZZ V GUS III: Phil Gould has never been quiet in his criticism about the NRL. Now he opens up about where he thinks the game’s wardens are going wrong.

Gus explains where he thinks the game is going wrong. Photo: Brett Costello

PHIL Gould has never been quiet in his criticism about the NRL. Now he opens up about where he thinks the game’s wardens are going wrong.

Buzz: You’ve been really critical of the administration.

Gus: As have you, Buzz.

Phil: Yes, not so much Todd Greenberg but John Grant and the commission.

Gus: They’ve lost their way. The NRL has mismanaged its finances terribly. That’s why they are in the position where they had to renege on their original MOU and now they’re unfairly trying to claw the money back from the players.

WHEN BUZZ MET GUS

GUS’S PLAN TO SET PANTHERS FREE

Gus explains where he thinks the game is going wrong. Photo: Brett Costello

My philosophical argument with them and NRL Central is that they’ve tried to grow the NRL brand as though it’s the main part of our game. The main part is the club brands. The club logos and the club fans.

They’ve spent way too much money at head office at the expense of clubs being financial and grassroots. The easy way is to get the media to criticise clubs that are losing money. We don’t lose money. We invest money. We don’t waste anything. And we don’t get any thanks for it. We never see them out here.”

The only spare space at the Panthers academy is an area that was originally set aside for the NRL to have its own western Sydney development office.

The NRL pulled out when the Panthers refused to break away from the 15 other clubs to sign a participation agreement.