Phil Gould doesn't run the business side of things. Penrith have a CEO which is Warren Wilson, Phil Gould is the middle guy - his title is 'General Manager' and obviously Ivan Cleary is the coach. Their board is also well set up as far as I know with a couple of ex-players and businessmen etc on there. Phil Gould does alot of behind the scenes sort of stuff and helps out both Wilson and Cleary.
I wouldn't underestimate the power of the NRL. They can make life very difficult for clubs. For instance, with the independent directors situation the NRL may withdraw funding from clubs who refuse to appoint independent directors; thats if it gets passed. However, in a sense your right - the clubs have an enormous say as to who runs the game! I personally, don't think the independent director thing will happen simply because it would mean clubs would be giving themselves a big vote of no confidence when it comes to keeping their house in order; no club is going to do that! As for the draft, I don't think there is anything concrete yet on how it is going to work; the devil is in the details. Its failed before and alot of thinking will need to go into it before it is put in place. One of the fundamental problems with the draft is what happens if a player gets picked for a club he doesn't want to join? What happens then? The whole thing is very problematic! The problem with David Smith is that he has alot of grandiose ideas but he hasn't been around Rugby League enough to understand it in an Australian context.
