Phil Gould

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Phil Gould

Personal information
Full name	Phil Gould
Date of birth	1958
Place of birth	Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Nickname(s)	Gus
Youth clubs
Years	Club
	Wentworthville Magpies
Senior clubs*
Years	Club	Apps (points)
1976-1980 1981-1982 1983-1985 1986	Penrith Newtown Canterbury-Bankstown South Sydney	32 (99) 13(20) 31(13) 23(4)
Professional clubs coached
1988-1989 1990-1994 1995-1999	Canterbury-Bankstown Penrith Sydney City Roosters
Representative teams coached
1992-1996 2000-2004	New South Wales State of Origin New South Wales State of Origin
* Professional club appearances and points counted for domestic first grade only.

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

Phil "Gus" Gould (born 1958 in Sydney, New South Wales), is an Australian rugby league identity. Gould has 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 The Sunday Roast. He is a former co-host of Boots N' All. He is also employed by Sydney's Fairfax paper, The Sun-Herald, where he has a weekly sports column every Sunday.

[edit] Football career

Born in Sydney in 1958, Gould played junior football with Wentworthville Leagues. Graded by Penrith in 1976 he spent two years mostly in lower grades becoming a regular first grader in 1979. Following retirement of Penrith's British import star Mike Stephenson, Gould was selected as captain at age 20, becoming the youngest New South Wales Rugby League premiership captain since Dave Brown led Easts in the 1930s. 1979 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 Rugby League Football Club 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 in 1981 made the 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 1sts. He broke his ankle the afternoon before selection announcements and didn't get back to first grade before season 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 14 first grade games and captained the reserve grade side into the semi-finals.

1986 was Gould's last playing season and his first with South Sydney. He played 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 runners up in the minor premiership and Piggins was awarded Dally M coach of the year.

In his playing career Gould made 99 first grade appearances across the four clubs.

[edit] Coaching career

A successful coaching career followed for Phil Gould. His first five coaching seasons brought two premierships (Canterbury 1988 and Penrith 1991), a loss in a Grand Final (Penrith 1990) and a semi final finish (Canterbury reserve grade 1988). 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 Queensland's 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 unknowns patched together from the ranks of Queenlanders loyal to the ARL. The following year the Blues completed a series whitewash of their own with the Brad Fittler-captained Blues becoming the first to go through a series unchanged. Gould then stood down, having inspired four NSW series wins in five years.

On the club front Gould had been lured away from Penrith by the Sydney City Roosters in 1995 at a stage when that once high flying club was continually dwelling at the bottom of the ladder. 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 an association with Gould at Penrith and with the NSW Blues. The Roosters were consistent semi finalists from 1995 to 2004, though Grand Final appearances didn't come till after Gould had stepped down as coach (in 2000 under Graham Murray and then from 2002 to 2005 under Ricky Stuart with a Premiership in 2002). In those years Gould played an undoubted role as the Roosters Coaching Director.

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.

[edit] Football commentator

Gould currently works as a colour commentator for Channel 9 during rugby league telecasts, including NRL, State of Origin and International football contests. He also writes for The Sydney Morning Herald. He is controversial within rugby league fan circles for his blunt opinions about the playing and administration of the game. He won the TV Fugly Award for "Most Biased Sporting Commentator" in 2002, 2006 and 2007[1] and is now a colour commentator on Triple M Monday night Football.

[edit] Sources

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