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Phil Gould bars Penrith Panthers players from State of Origin

Adrian Proszenko
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In a stinging criticism of the NSWRL, Penrith supremo Phil Gould said yesterday he would not want any of his Panthers players involved with the Blues until they overhauled their culture as the fallout from the state's latest failed campaign continues.

Speaking on the Six Tackles with Gus segment on wwos.nine.com.au, Gould, NSW's most successful Origin coach, described the leadership of the Blues as a "dog's breakfast".

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His rebuke came on the same day as the NSWRL took the unprecedented step of issuing a press release before the completion of its official review to address the repeated criticism that has come its way in the wake of the series loss to Queensland. 

In that press release, the Blues specifically denied claims  Blake Ferguson and Josh Dugan had been drunk or had acted like "clowns" in the lead-up to the decider. 

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Gould described Dugan and Ferguson's decision to spend an afternoon drinking at the Lennox Point Hotel on the Friday before Origin III as "stupid" but did not believe it would have emerged had NSW won the match and the series.

But he was at his most pointed when talking about the culture that has developed around the team.

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"Speaking honestly, and we've discussed this at club level, I don't want any of our players in that environment at the moment of NSW," Gould told the podcast. "I don't want anyone down in that culture at all. We've spoken about it and we've had a little experience with it as well. I don't want any of our current players in that environment. But over the years, other than [Nathan] Cleary, there might be a few others we'd like to see play Origin football. But not in this current environment."

NSWRL boss David Trodden was diplomatic when informed of Gould's comments.

"He is one of our most highly decorated former coaches," Trodden told Fairfax Media. "We have great respect for him and his views. A large number of former players and coaches have commented on various aspects of selections and preparation.

"Whilst we might not necessarily agree with all of their [observations], we certainly respect each and every one of them and their right to have an opinion."

In its press statement, the NSWRL denied Dugan and Ferguson were drunk during an afternoon at the Lennox Point Hotel.

"On the basis of a number of independent accounts of the circumstances, the NSWRL board is satisfied that the players were not drunk, they were not acting like 'clowns' and they were not so affected by alcohol that they were 'hidden' the following morning in a cover-up," the statement said. "On the contrary, the pair trained at 10am the following morning in full view of the media contingent. They trained strongly."

Gould said Daley looked "cooked" during the series, adding it would be unfair to subject him to another gruelling campaign.

"It all starts with leadership. Who's going to take control over what the personality of this team [is]?" Gould said. "I think it's a dog's breakfast, and it has been for some time. I think too many people are running it for [Daley]. Too many people are picking the teams, setting the agenda, deciding where the camp is going to be, deciding which stories go out every day."

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