Phil Gould (rugby league)

For the drummer Phil Gould, see Phil Gould (musician).

Phil Gould

File:Phil Gould 2010.png
Personal information
Full name	Philip Ronald Gould
Playing information
Position	Second row
Club Years Team Pld T G FG P 1976–79 Penrith Panthers 24 2 49 1 105 1981–82 Newtown Jets 17 2 7 0 20 1983–85 Canterbury-Bankstown 40 3 0 1 13 1986 South Sydney 23 1 0 0 4 Total 104 8 56 2 142
Coaching information
Club Years Team Gms W D L W% 1988–89 Canterbury-Bankstown 47 29 2 16 62 1990–94 Penrith Panthers 115 64 4 47 56 1995–99 Sydney City 124 76 2 46 61 Total 286 169 8 109 59 Representative Years Team Gms W D L W% 1992–96 New South Wales 15 9 0 6 60 2002–04 New South Wales 9 5 1 3 56
Source: NRL Stats

Phil Gould (born 1958 in Sydney), is an Australian rugby league football identity. Since the 1990s he has had a prominent role in Channel 9's coverage of rugby league, as a commentator on their match-day coverage, and appears on The Sunday Footy Show and The Sunday Roast. He is the expert commentator on Monday Night Football on Triple M radio and writes for Sydney's Fairfax paper, The Sun-Herald. Before his media career, he was a State of Origin and NRL coach, and before that a premiership-winning player.

Football career

Born in Sydney in 1958, Gould played junior rugby league with Wentworthville Leagues. Graded by Penrith in 1976, he spent two years in the lower grades, before becoming a regular first-grader in 1979. Following the retirement of Penrith's British import star Mike Stephenson, Gould was selected as captain of the Panthers at age 20, becoming the youngest New South Wales Rugby League premiership captain since Dave Brown led Easts in the 1930s. The 1979 season marked the beginning of injury troubles for Gould which ultimately kept him on the sidelines for most of 1980 and which recurred later in his career.

Gould moved to Newtown in 1981, where Warren Ryan was still honing his innovative coaching approach that transformed the way that top-grade rugby league would be played in Australia throughout the next decade. After being also-rans for many years, a turnaround was achieved when Newtown made the 1981 Grand Final against Parramatta, though losing 20–11.

Gould signed with Canterbury in 1983 under Ted Glossop, losing in the final to Parramatta 18–4. By now Gould had become regarded as an astute ball-playing forward. Years of playing "smart" to avoid further eye damage had tuned his ball distribution and organising skills. In 1984, under Warren Ryan at Canterbury, Gould was expected to be selected for City Firsts. However, he broke his ankle the afternoon before the selections were announced and didn't get back to first grade before season's end, taking no part in the club's 6–4 Grand Final win over Parramatta.

Injuries also took a toll on Gould's 1985 season with Canterbury. He played only 14 first-grade games that year and captained the reserve-grade side into the semi-finals.

After leaving Canterbury at the end of that season, Gould played the final year of his career with South Sydney in 1986, taking the field in 23 first-grade games. It was a springboard to his coaching career, as Souths coach George Piggins welcomed Gould's opinion and insight on tactics. Souths finished as runner-up in the minor premiership and Piggins was awarded Dally M coach of the year.

Overall, in his playing career, Gould made 104 first-grade appearances across four clubs.

Coaching career

A successful coaching career followed for Gould. His first five coaching seasons brought two premierships (with Canterbury in 1988 and Penrith in 1991) and a loss in a Grand Final (with Penrith in 1990). In 1992, he took over as coach of New South Wales in the State of Origin series. Gould is credited with instilling in Blues players a pride for the NSW jumper which previously hadn't matched the Queenslanders' renowned passion. The Blues were victorious for the next three series. In 1995, at the start of the Super League war, Gould's NSW side lost 3–0 to the Paul Vautin-coached team of relative unknowns patched together from the ranks of Queenlanders loyal to the ARL. The following year, NSW completed a series whitewash of its own with the Brad Fittler-captained Blues becoming the first and only team to go through a series with the same unchanged squad of 17 players. Gould then stood down, having inspired four NSW series wins in five years.

On the club front, Gould left Penrith for the Sydney City Roosters in 1995 (actually officially coaching the Roosters for the final game of the 1994 season after having departed Penrith mid-season), at a stage when the once high-flying Roosters club was continually dwelling at the bottom of the ladder. Before joining Easts, the Roosters had made the finals only once since 1983. A long rebuilding phase followed under Gould, enabling them to make some quality signings, one of the most important being Brad Fittler, the champion five-eighth/centre who had a close association with Gould at Penrith and with the NSW Blues. The Roosters were consistent semi-finalists from 1995 to 2004, though no Grand Final appearances came until 2000, the year after Gould had stepped down as coach and been replaced in the top job by Graham Murray. Further Grand Final appearances followed in 2002, 2003 and 2004 under Ricky Stuart, who won a premiership in 2002, the Roosters' first since 1975.

Gould returned to State of Origin coaching New South Wales from 2002 to 2004, winning two series and drawing the third. To date, he has been the most successful New South Wales coach.

Football commentator

Gould currently works as an expert for Channel 9 and Triple M radio during rugby league telecasts, including NRL, State of Origin and International football contests. He also writes for The Sun Herald. He is considered controversial within rugby league fan circles for his blunt opinions about the playing and administration of the game. He won the TV Week Logie Award for "Most Popular Sporting Commentator" in 2002, 2006, 2007 and 2008. Ironically, he also "won" the TV Fugly Award for "Most Biased Sporting Commentator" in those same four years [1].

Sources

• Chesterton, Ray (1996) Good as Gould Ironbark Press, Sydney