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Good as Gould: why 'Gus' is the right fit for Belmore
Emile El-Azar on why Phil Gould is the right man to bring the glory days back to Belmore.
My Bulldogs have finally got their man. Phil Gould has joined Canterbury-Bankstown as General Manager of Football, after all hope of snaring him had seemed lost just a few days ago.
I'm here to talk about why this is exactly what the Bulldogs need right now.
I'll be upfront. I have a love-hate relationship with Phil Gould. He was Canterbury's coach for my first Rugby League memory, the 1988 premiership, when I was just 5 years old. I absolutely believe that he has one of the finest Rugby League minds in the game. On the other hand, I can't watch him on a game analysis on Channel 9, due to his rants, based on his current opinions on the rules/club he currently works at/weather that day. Although - I do think a lot of it is theatre.
Let's start with some words from the man himself, September 6, 2020:
"I'm sure that Trent Barrett doesn't know what he's getting himself into and if I was associated with Trent in any way, shape or form I think I'd be advising him to reconsider his decision.
"I just think this is going to deteriorate into a real mess in the coming weeks, and I just can't see a way out. I think it's just too much for him to take on at this time, given what happened to him at Manly, and given that his next NRL appointment is very, very important.
"He's in a really good club at the moment at the Panthers, he's got a great role and is doing a tremendous job. [In his position] I'd be nearly inclined to decline it and go back to where he is and just wait a little bit more time because the Bulldogs is an absolute mess. Behind the scenes it is a toxic mess."
You know what? He was absolutely on the money.
The Dogs have not played in the finals since 2016. This alone is unacceptable for this club. Wait, no. Once upon a time, it may have been seen as unacceptable. It's been become very clear that mediocrity has been welcomed in and accepted in the time since. I never thought I would see the day when "honourable" losses are celebrated by Bulldogs fans. From top to bottom, the bar has been lowered.
The very ugly and public boardroom & front office dramas have been part and parcel of this bar-lowering. Watching a protracted battle of self-interest play out in the media, watching the board and front office fumble and bumble their way through everything from recruitment, salary cap, coaching, to memberships, ticketing, merchandise, social media, down to the very basic of communication with members. Everything at the club is now at a lower standard that is was since the last time we played in the finals.
But finally - maybe - now some stability. John Khoury and his board, Aaron Warburton as CEO are in, and are attempting to steady the ship with new coach Barrett at the helm. They have a vision for the future, and are working towards that. I want them, NEED them to all succeed. But there is still one thing missing. These are all really nice guys. They really are. They are high quality human beings that are working tirelessly for the club, around the clock. However, they are nice guys who are still on their L plates at NRL level (okay - Barrett is maybe on his P's).
The first thing Gould brings to Canterbury is a "take no shit" attitude. This club needs an absolute head-kicker who will bring that bar up to where it needs to be. Again, this is from top to bottom. In this writer's eyes, at the moment the lunatics are running the asylum. We have a playing group that have not had a football manager for nearly a year now. The recent COVID-19 breaches by a group of players, and the fact that the club was fined for poor player management as a result, says everything.
To quote Canterbury's High Performance Manager, Steve Hansen:
"Gus knows Canterbury inside out. He's extremely smart, he's a good motivator and has a clear vision on how he wants to do things. The thing with Gus is he gets things done. He's a doer and he doesn't muck around when he does it."
"Gus's role will be to run the rugby league side of the business, Aaron's job is to run the commercial side of it, and I'm there to help Trent do what he's good at, which is coaching."
Gould will bring some clear direction to the coaches and players, and crucially, in my view, will allow Barrett to focus on actually coaching the team and developing his players. Gould also knows what the Bulldogs culture used to be like, and what it should be. He is in a rare position to be able to convey his message from both a cultural and technical perspective.
Hansen again:
"Gus has got the experience, he's got the contacts and he's a former Bulldogs man himself".
Clout and influence
For way too long, Canterbury has been the club that all officialdom has made an example of. The media love to absolutely smash the club at every single opportunity. If a player who has misbehaved so much as driven past Belmore once in their lives, the articles are headlined with "ex-bulldogs STAR". In every single metric on and off the field, Canterbury are held to a higher standard than the rest of the NRL in every facet (don't fight me on this).
The long and short of it? The Bulldogs have been a pushover when it comes to dealing with the NRL, the media and player managers. Gould is the man to change all that. He is a man who will stand up to officialdom, who will tell media and player managers to pull their heads in. He is a man who will relentlessly push and promote the club, and its agenda, publicly. Finally, we can use Gould's more annoying traits for good and not evil. He will fight for the club, whilst at the same time, pulling people into line internally. I actually can't wait to see this play out.
Contacts
This is a man with the most coveted "little black book" in the entire NRL. Canterbury now have almost limitless opportunities. More players will want to come to the club now, simply by having Gould in place, and using marquee new signings like Josh Addo-Carr will help sell the message. And boy has that message just become so much more meaningful and compelling to a prospective signing.
This also applies for the business side of the club. Gould, and what he brings, also will attract more corporate interest. In these uncertain times (yep, COVID-19), corporate sponsorship will be much harder to come by, Gould's influence will be worth its weight in gold.
Linked to all the points above - salary cap management. One of the major reasons the club is where it is now, has been tremendously poor management of the club's cap. From back-ended contracts, to paying players to turn out for other clubs, to paying desperation overs for players on the market. This all ends here. Add in Gould's influence with players and player managers (as mentioned earlier) he knows his way around a salary cap, and knows how to build a roster, especially with the future in mind.
Finally - grassroots.
Let's start with Gould's own words:
"We will invest time, energy and money into the Canterbury junior league, to increase participation and enjoyment for girls and boys of all ages groups," We will provide development pathways and coaching to graduate kids from junior league into the junior representative programs. We will also provide opportunity for talented kids from all areas to come to the Bulldogs and work hard to realise their dreams of being NRL footballers.
"There has already been a lot of work done over the past 12 months. Chairman John Khoury and his board have worked tirelessly to lay important foundations. It's a terrific starting point on which to build the future of the Bulldogs."
This is such a crucial thing. Khoury is, and always has been extremely passionate about junior league and grassroots Rugby League, having this as part of Gould's job description is huge for the club. We need to get back to being a club that kids want to play for. Promoting this wonderful sport we love so dearly (when it isn't being dismantled by a certain ARL Chairman, in this writer's view). We need to nurture and develop these kids, and make sure talent identification processes are on the money, and a clear pathway to the NRL for those good enough.
Let's not mince words. The Bulldogs have been the laughing stock of the NRL for a while now. It's been a sad, depressing decline in the last five years. The building blocks are in place to arrest the slide and bring the club back where it needs to be. I won't say "where it deserves" because you reap what you sow.
In the end, all of this hinges on the club's on-field performance. This is why Gould is here now. He is the man for the job, in fact, with the magnitude of the task in front of him, he is the ONLY man for the job.
Good luck, and God speed, Mr Gould.