Paul Kent: Gus Gould, Cameron Ciraldo and Canterbury Bulldogs coaching conspiracy theories

Rumours are circulating Phil Gould is trying to gain control of team selections from Cameron Ciraldo at Canterbury – and it wouldn’t be the first time he has pulled rank over an NRL coach, writes PAUL KENT.

Phil Gould. Picture: Julian Andrews

Enough conspiracy theories surround Phil Gould he should be getting around more often in the old tinfoil hat, or whatever it is that keeps out the head noise.

He is gossip central for rugby league.

Little happens around him without some twisted story accompanying it, half of which are often true, all of which are entertaining, and barely any with enough merit worth repeating.

But such is life in the big world of rugby league.

TONGUES WAGGING

Gould caught up for coffee with Canterbury coach Cameron Ciraldo on Tuesday about the same time text messages and WhatsApp chats began circulating about Gould taking over from Ciraldo at Canterbury to pick the team, taking control from yet another coach.

It is not a foreign accusation.

Gould was first accused of it when he walked into Sydney Roosters training in disagreement with Luke Ricketson replacing Brad Fittler as skipper and so declared Craig Fitzgibbon was the man for the job.

There are 40 stories on why Gould sacked Ivan Cleary the first time around at Penrith and not one of them might be true, or several might be.

He told us Trent Barrett would be at Canterbury long after he was gone when rumours went around that he would sack Barrett and, long after Barrett had gone, he is still there at Canterbury, managing the roster.

It must torture him to be able to simultaneously shame the media, regularly discrediting it as an industry, and yet putting out his hand each week to cop his pay cheque working for Channel 9 with weekly television appearances and podcasts.

Phil Gould is no stranger to tinkering with the coach’s team sheet. Picture: Julian Andrews

THE LATEST CIRALDO-GOULD RUMOUR

So when rumours begin to circulate about Gould and another coach no longer working off the same team sheet it becomes a gossip feeding frenzy.

Only wins will quiet the coming noise.

How often Gould and Ciraldo agree on selections at Canterbury approximates to zero.

Gould’s Bulldogs team looks very different to Ciraldo’s most weeks but the coach is having his way.

That is part of the curiosity with Gould.

Few, if any, football general managers would be tolerated writing their one to 13 on a slip of paper each week and pushing it across the coffee table to the coach.

Yet Gould is also not any football general manager.

His power at Canterbury is almost absolute.

Ciraldo is coaching a squad that has turned over more players than any team in the NRL thanks to Gould.

Dogs fans are getting restless, the chairman was recently thrust out and replaced by a man fresh to rugby league but said to be a solid Gould supporter and suddenly all the same ingredients of past coups are getting in place.

Cameron Ciraldo is getting his way – for now. Picture: NRL Photos

CURRENT ISSUES

The Bulldogs will celebrate the 20th anniversary of their 2004 title on Thursday and all the players have been invited to turn up and sign autographs and pose for pics with the fans.

But where is this current team, and what is happening?

Several poor decisions against South Sydney cost them last Friday. Souths were there to be beaten and the Dogs couldn’t be the difference.

They had a good six or seven solid opportunities to score but came up with only three.

Gould’s recruitment and the lack of a natural playmaking half, with former Roosters utility Drew Hutchison in the job, are being blamed for their shortcomings.

It might be a case of Dogs fans and Gould haters going off too early, though.

Last season under Ciraldo, for the first time, the Dogs won three from their first five and Bulldogs’ fans were calling for overtime shifts to pay for finals tickets.

The Bulldogs are 1-3 this season but are clearly better than last year.

PAPERING OVER THE CRACKS

Those wins hid the problems in the roster, which got exposed when the losses came.

Gould got busy in the player market but failed to come up with a top-drawer playmaker, so went with another option of utilities who might be able to do the job.

Jarome Luai chose the Wests Tigers for next season. Mitchell Moses’ asking price was hovering around $1.4 million a season and the Dogs backed off.

At the same time, though, Matt Burton has failed to fully transition from centre to five-eighth, virtually silent on the field.

Hutchison’s value to the team is his ability to point the Dogs around the park where the Dogs were hoping Burton might, and while he has been able to adequately run the team, the Dogs have suffered when the big moments needed to be iced.

Yet the noise grows, such is life at Belmore, such is life with Gould.

Originally published as Paul Kent: Gus Gould, Cameron Ciraldo and Canterbury Bulldogs coaching conspiracy theories