How Gould launched a Penrith-like reboot of Bulldogs

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How Gould launched a Penrith-like reboot of Bulldogs

It took one meeting with Phil Gould to convince Stephen Crichton that the Canterbury supremo could replicate Penrith’s success at the Bulldogs.

“That was basically (the sell),” Crichton said.

“He spoke about the future, where the club is going and his vision of the club.”

Ditto, Viliame Kikau.

“It’s not hard to be convinced by the rugby league guru,” Kikau said.

“The stuff he did in Penrith, it’s exactly what he is doing right now.”

But, as the Bulldogs prepare to mark their long-awaited return to NRL finals with Sunday’s match against Manly, the results so far are eerily similar.

Gould for years has remained a mythical-like rugby league character.

For the most part, fans know him for his contrarian views on Channel Nine, fierce debates with fellow commentators and scrutiny of the NRL and its rules.

Rarely does he front the media outside times of extreme crisis. When he does, it is usually a masterclass – like Tuesday’s attempt to spin the Josh Addo-Carr circus.

In a purely football sense, he has been around for what seems like forever.

He won Canterbury a premiership as a coach at age 30, had sustained success in State of Origin, and was at the helm of the Sydney Roosters turnaround in the early 2000s.

His return to Penrith last decade may be one of rugby league’s most crucial moments in this century.

And while he didn’t survive long enough to be there when Penrith’s dominance began in 2020, his vision is all over the nursery that the people he employed set up.

Canterbury, in many ways, has been a different job.

The Bulldogs are not blessed with the same junior pathway as Penrith, and Gould has had to set up pathways in different regions to fuel the Bulldogs’ future.

But, as the Bulldogs prepare to mark their long-awaited return to NRL finals with Sunday’s match against Manly, the results so far are eerily similar.

In Gould’s third full year at Penrith, the Panthers reached the Harold Matthews and SG Ball grand finals, finished ninth in under-20s and returned to the NRL finals.

At Canterbury, it’s almost the same tale.

The Bulldogs this year were minor premiers in Harold Matthews, played in the SG Ball grand final and are now in the under-21s finals.

Those pathways are yet to fully bear fruit in the NRL, but the offshoots of what Gould achieved at Penrith are now clearly taking hold at Belmore.

It was his relationship with Cameron Ciraldo that landed the Bulldogs the best defensive coach in the game.

Ciraldo, Gould’s No.1 option when he had his first chance to install a new coach at Canterbury, had been one of the mastermind’s first player signings at Penrith in 2011.

Ciraldo become an assistant coach at Penrith and twice tried to quit, unhappy with things under then coach Anthony Griffin.

And twice Gould denied him an exit.

“There were a number of reasons for myself and my development as a coach and what I wanted to do moving forward,” Ciraldo said in an interview in 2018.

“I thought at the time it was the best thing to do, but I’m glad ‘Gus’ talked me out of it.”

There is more than just Gould and Ciraldo linking the Bulldogs to Penrith.

Kikau, Crichton, Matt Burton and Jaeman Salmon are all former Panthers players, with Ciraldo also a key selling point.

But as far as Kikau is concerned, the role of Gould in all of that can’t be understated.

“I was just like a shy little **** in Fiji back in Townsville, before he signed me to his Penrith,” Kikau said.

“He’s always been in contact with me. He messages my family sometimes, just checking up on them.

“We have built a good relationship out at Penrith. I had a few options, and once he asked me it was easy for me to say yes and come here.”

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