Let down by players I trusted: that'll do me
By Phil Gould
May 23, 2004
The Sun-Herald
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This will now definitely be my last season as NSW coach. I am not a football coach any more and I don't want to be. Some of my players have done the wrong thing and I am filthy.
Two of the players come from my club, the Roosters, and I cannot begin to tell you how much that hurts. With others I knew the risks and, unfortunately, they have lived up to my expectations.
I have never demanded that people show me respect but I am not going to put up with this type of disrespect.
I delivered three simple instructions.
When we go out, we go out together, not in small groups, and we come home together.
No one is to carry a mobile phone.
And when the team captain asked me if the players could go to a hotel in the Kings Cross area I simply said: "No, the only thing we will get there is trouble."
I don't make these decisions for the good of my health. It comes from a life full of hindsight. I have done all these things and made all these mistakes. When I played football, I was into everything that was going.
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Maybe in my younger days I could summon the smarts to deal with this situation but I am now 46 years of age and I am sick of pandering to footballers' emotions.
Perhaps this isn't the best time to make such a statement, but I feel compelled to get this off my chest.
I can't remember a time in my coaching career when I have been more disappointed than I am now.
The events of the week have been a gut-wrenching experience for me. I take great pride in my work and in particular the achievements of the NSW State of Origin teams I have coached.
As a coach I have always tried to support my players. I trust them, I always try to find the good in them and at times I have gone above and beyond the call of duty to assist them and protect them. Last year I even took a few bullets for them.
I have never claimed to be any kind of genius and I am not looking for sympathy or pats on the back. I have made plenty of mistakes along the way, but I have always tried to work hard for my players and I have been blessed that so many great players have worked hard for me in return.
On Wednesday word started to filter through about problems with the behaviour of some of our players in the early hours of the morning after our team night out.
This news hit me like a ton of bricks. I had a sickness and anger in my guts that I had never felt before. I could see where this was going to take us. I knew what the media would do to this and the damage it would cause. I tried to remain cool.
In the early stages I found it hard to get all the facts and, to be honest, the truth was hard to come by. Perhaps the lies or the misrepresentations are the things that have hurt me the most.
I went through a strange series of emotions in my head as I tried to fathom how and why this could have happened and what I was going to do about it.
I had plenty of players who had done the right thing and I had a team to prepare for the biggest test rugby league has to offer.
Do I erupt and give it to these stupid, selfish people who put themselves above the rest of the team, or do I temper my anger and try to use the situation to help the team come together and deal with the drama?
I have to admit that in the early stages I chose to do the latter.
Players had led me to believe they were being hard done by and I chose to stand in their corner. I was wrong and I am just glad I did not speak out publicly. As things started to become clearer I found I was distancing myself from the players.
By Thursday morning the only solution I could come up with was to send them home because I needed more time to think. Unfortunately, the more time I have had to think, the angrier I have become.
The ARL has performed an exhaustive investigation into the events of Wednesday, May 19.
Players have been sacked and others have been fined. Reputations have been tarnished and lives have been changed forever.
I believe that based on the information available the ARL management has got it right. It was not supposed to be like this. Origin camps are about taking 17 talented individuals from teams that compete with each other on a weekly basis, and forming them into a team that will play for each other. Talent is not enough to win these games. There has to be a physical, mental and spiritual oneness about your team by the time it takes the field.
It is easier for Queenslanders. We are just wired differently from them. But unless we adopt their psychology and their passion for this contest we most certainly will lose.
This is my eighth season in charge of the NSW Blues.
I have been a part of only one losing series in all that time, so whatever it is we do when we come into these camps, it seems to have been working. When I went to bed around 3.15am on Wednesday I was a very happy man. I spoke to the head of our team security and he informed me that all players were accounted for and that all were safe and sound.
I said to him, "That's great, mate. What a great night."
The whole day had been meticulously planned and well executed. It is always a major concern to me when we plan our now famous State of Origin bonding sessions because I know the dangers and I plan to avoid them. In the current climate in particular I knew we had to get it right.
I also knew that this part of our camp can be a lot of fun for the players and has always been an integral part of helping form relationships and communications.
I had considered doing away with the bonding nights and making it an alcohol-free series, but so many of my past players in Origin told me I would be depriving the players of the best part of Origin and how it would not be Origin without it. They were right, too. This process is important and on this occasion we got it right again. I was so pleased with the way it went and so relieved when we got them all home at the desired hour in good shape.
Now, through the selfishness and stupidity of a few players, our Origin campaign is in tatters.
When we get to training today I will look the players in the eye and tell them how I feel. I will then get on with doing my job.
If they don't want to play for me, that's fine. But they sure as hell had better want to play for NSW
