Those of us outside of Sydney will find no surprises in this story....
“HE hasn’t coached for 20 years. If anyone’s old school he has to be in that conversation.”
Anthony Griffin is talking about Phil Gould, arguably one of rugby league’s most divisive figures but certainly one of its most powerful.
By the time the sacked Panthers coach finishes his extraordinary tale of betrayal at the hands of Gould, it’s hard to see how anyone in the game will look at Gus the same way again.
“I’m not here to bullShit. I’ve been around a long time,” Griffin says. “I’m telling my side of the story because I think I have done an exceptional job with that club. And unless I set the record straight I will get no credit for it.”
And set it straight he does. If you’re a Panthers fan, put the kettle on and get comfortable. If you’re Phil Gould, put the phone on aeroplane mode.
When Griffin arrived at Penrith from Brisbane in 2015, he says, “the joint looked like a country fishing club. There were short players, fat players, tall players. The place was KFC and a run around the oval. Gus warned me that it would be nothing like I was used to at the Broncos.
The biggest thing I could see at Penrith that Gus could not see at the time was the ability to build a team from the inside out. He had been recruiting bottom eight players. He sat back and said ‘go for your life.’ We brought Nathan (Cleary) in, Fisher Harris, a heap of others and it was all good.”
But Griffin says Gould grew impatient for success and began trying to shape the team’s play around the opposition.
“I look at it as that Sydney mentality. He thinks everything can be fixed with a play. ‘You have to run this play against this mob and that will fix the problem.’ ”
Griffin says Gould’s meddling was “a bit like a father-in-law”.
“I am what I am. In Queensland you learned to build a whole club and recruit well. I’m patient with that and it’s worked. The club is at the next level. When I came in they were playing off for the wooden spoon.”
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Contrary to his persona as a fiercely independent thinker, Griffin says Gould can be easily influenced.
“If someone rings him from outside the club and says one plus one equals three, you have to convince him ‘no, it’s two.’ ”
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It was a Saturday night in May and the Panthers did an absolute demolition job on the Dragons to leapfrog the premiership favourites to first spot on the ladder. Nobody saw the 28-2 scoreline coming, a result enhanced by the biggest Panthers Stadium crowd in eight years.
As the club song rang out at full-time, Griffin says he heard not even a murmur of congratulations from Gus.
“It’s the saddest I have ever seen him. We were officially on top of the ladder, having overcome this huge run of injuries earlier in the year, but nothing.
When we lost there was always an inquiry, how had we had failed in our preparation, but there was never any inquiry when we won.”
Griffin says when the Broncos obliterated the Panthers 50-18 at Suncorp Stadium two weeks ago, Gould’s mood was much improved.
“I have never seen him so happy than when Brisbane put 50 on us. And then I’ve never seen him so agitated than when we just beat Manly.”
