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Gus Gould used to be one of my favourite commentators. Yes he could be repetitive (“No no no no no!”) and yes he would go off on tangents and start ignoring everything that was happening on the field. But when he was paying attention his insights into the game could (and still can) be remarkable.
Most impressively, his ability to read the mental state of the team or of individual players at different points during the game add to my enjoyment of the spectacle.
However, since he became the self proclaimed Duke of Penrith Gus has – there’s really no other word for it – sold out.
Back in May when Gus returned to Penrith admid much fanfare, his role was announced as “Phil will work closely with (chief executive) Michael Leary, (marketing manager) Shannon Donato, (operations manager) Jason Wrigley, (recruitment manager) Jim Jones and the management team and will have direct involvement in all aspects of rugby league and in particular the coaching and team support operation.”
This sounded great (especially if you were a Panthers fan) as Phil would have his hand in all matters footy.
And in the months since we have seen his hand in some positive moves forward such as the recruitment of Ivan Cleary to coach next year and the recent League Tag gala day he heavily promoted on TV and in his Sun Herald column.
These things fall under the guise of “the direct involvement of all aspects of rugby league” and I heartily support his involvement.
However – what about poker machines?
Now unless the coach wants the players to develop their forearms by repetitively pulling a lever – I can’t see how they have anything to do with footy matters.
Now Phil is allowed his opinion for sure – he’s already spruiked about the carbon tax this year.
However when he starts talking about poker machines – and even worse when he uses his commentary during a rugby league game to push his opinions – then it starts to stink a bit. Then when you realise that his wages are paid by the football club – who uses Poker Machines as a source of revenue – then it starts to stink a whole lot.
And when Gus uses his commentary during a game to spruik his opinion and directly uses the slogans of the poker machine lobby – and involves Ray Warren, a recovering problem gambler, then it becomes one of the worst stinks in the game.
If I were David Gallop it wouldn’t be on field behaviour I’d be worried about – it is this massive hyposcrisy from one of the leading figures of the game.
Stupid behaviour by players can be understood and relaively easily forgiven. Intentionally unethical behaviour from a person with as much influence as Gus Gould needs to be dealt with more seriously.
There is something rotten here and the longer it is ignored and tolerated, the bigger the damage to the game.
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