Veteran journo Phil Rothfield hits back after Phil Gould’s fiery outburst

Veteran journalist Buzz Rothfield has returned serve at NRL supremo Phil Gould as the firey feud between the pair exploded.

Buzz claps back at Gus

Daily Telegraph journalist Phil Rothfield has hit back at Canterbury Bulldogs general manager Phil Gould in an extraordinary on air spray.

Gould delivered his own furious rant on Monday night after taking issue with one of Rothfield’s stories.

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The veteran journo reported that Gould’s Bulldogs had offered Titans star Tino Fa’asuamaleaui a monster deal with a $4 million contract and reportedly a share of Laundy Hotels.

According to The Daily Telegraph story, Arthur Laundy said he would guarantee a 10 to 12 per cent annual return for players who invested in his business.

The NRL stepped in on Monday to shut the reported offered from being made before Gould took aim on 100% Footy, angrily denying the story and claiming it had been completely fabricated. On Tuesday night Rothfield was handed his chance to reply to Gould’s spray when he joined the NRL 360 desk.

Rothfield didn’t hold back as he laid out how the story came about while calling out Gould’s attack on a fellow journalist.

Gus wasn’t happy with Buzz. Picture: Julian Andrews

“It was absolutely no attempt to destabilise Canterbury, Gus is doing a pretty good job of that himself, look at the premiership ladder,” Rothfield said.

“He’s on eight, nine hundred thousand a year. He might tell you they aren’t going backwards but last season they were in 12th, not in 15th.

“I worked on this all weekend … two Sydney clubs told me over the weekend they’d pulled out of the race for Tino because they couldn’t beat Canterbury.

“They were offering a million a year, and an investment opportunity and a money-back guarantee with the Bulldogs.

“I spoke to Tino’s manager, Simon Mammino who confirmed there was interest from the Bulldogs, there was a meeting that was going to take place.

“Next thing I have to confirm the pub side of the story … I also spoke to a couple of other agents to get a better understanding of how the Melbourne Storm investment with Betr works and how this could possibly work.

“My last job on Sunday was to ring Arthur Laundy himself, the boss of Laundy Hotels, a billionaire and major sponsor of the Bulldogs.

“We had a 10-minute conversation, he took me through it blow by blow how he was going to achieve this. How Canterbury were so low down on the ladder that they have got to pay overs to get players.”

The Dogs reportedly threw the kitchen sink at Tino. (Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)

Gould stated he had “never spoken to Tino” and labelled Rothfield’s story “childish”

“He (Laundy) is in there trying to help them, Gus has blown up because his club has been exposed for an obvious attempt to wrought the cap,” Rothfield said.

“He’s been exposed, he’s been caught out with it.

“ … I thanked him [Laundy] and I said, ‘Mate this is a really good column for Monday’ … but 10 minutes later he actually rang me back,” Rothfield revealed.

“He said, ‘Buzz can I actually change one of my quotes, I’m not comfortable saying that’. I then read him back every quote that was to appear in the column. So what Gus said, that this was a private conversation and not designed to go into the newspaper is complete crap.”

NRL360 host Braith Anasta also said: “He (Gould) made out like you tricked Arthur in to the article”.

Rothfield said he would happily sit down with Gould in a courtroom to settle whether or not the story was fabricated before revealing the penalty the Bulldogs could have been facing if the NRL didn’t step in to block the contract offer.

Buzz claps back at Gus

“I know he did, I texted Arthur as soon as I saw it. Arthur knows the true story, I’ve got the whole conversation written down,” Rothfield said.

“There was no misrepresentation whatsoever, I honestly feel … what am I supposed to do if Arthur says I am going to guarantee them 10 to 12 per cent, I am going to guarantee their money.

“Do they really think as a journalist I’m not going to print that?

“I’ll tell you something else, the last team who tried something like this with giving guaranteed investments were the Parramatta Eels with Corey Norman.

“They got fined a million dollars and they lost competition points, now if I hadn’t have made this public … would it have happened?

“That’s what he is dirty about Braith, I didn’t break one rule of journalism with this.

“For Gould to get on last night, it was a disgrace. And I will tell you what else he did last night, I have a lot of respect for Michael Chammas.

“He tore him a new one last night … It is defamatory what he said, and I am happy to go in to any courtroom with Gus, lay our facts on the table and get to the bottom of it.”

Originally published as Veteran journo Phil Rothfield hits back after Phil Gould’s fiery outburst