Phil Gould has erupted over the NRL’s preliminary final scheduling, slamming the league for giving Melbourne Storm what he believes is an unfair advantage heading into the decider.
The Bulldogs supremo argued that staging one preliminary final on Friday night and the other on Sunday created a lopsided build-up to the NRL Grand Final.
Fresh off Friday night’s 24-16 preliminary-final win over Cronulla, Storm players will enjoy a weekend off before returning on Monday to prepare for the decider.
Part of that will no doubt include watching Brisbane and Penrith take it to each other in Sunday afternoon’s other preliminary final at Suncorp Stadium.
Historically, the games have been played on consecutive nights, giving both winners near-equal time to recover.
‘They are gonna get an extra two days of recovery leading into the grand final,’ Gould said on Wide World of Sports’ Six Tackles With Gus.
Melbourne Storm booked their place in the NRL Grand Final against the Cronulla Sharks in their preliminary final on Friday night
The second preliminary final between Penrith and Brisbane won’t be played until Sunday, leaving Phil Gould staggered at how the NRL could hand one team such a big advantage
Storm coach Craig Bellamy knows his side has been handed an advantage, but said it was just luck of the draw
‘That’s huge at this time of year, absolutely huge. That’s again one of the vagaries in our game that we just overlook and say that’s OK, we will just have to put up with it. I really don’t think it’s fair.’
The scheduling shift was designed to avoid clashing with the AFL Grand Final, but Gould said the NRL should not bow to outside demands. His solution? Put both preliminary finals on the same day.
‘Bugger the AFL grand final. Play them both (the NRL prelims) on Sunday, I don’t care. Play them both on Friday night, I don’t care,’ Gould fumed.
‘I think a 48-hour advantage for the Storm or Sharks leading into the grand final is huge. That’s not fair, that’s not even.’
Penrith coach Ivan Cleary echoed the sentiment, admitting he was frustrated by the imbalance. ‘It’s definitely unfair. But it is what it is,’ he said.
‘There are all different ways you can look at it. At the end of the day, if that’s our problem next week, I’ll be pretty happy.’
Storm coach Craig Bellamy even conceded they had been gifted a big advantage for the decider.
‘Yeah, I think it is an advantage, but with all due respect, we didn’t make that decision,’ Bellamy said.
Panthers coach Ivan Cleary also spoke out against the staggered preliminary finals that will give one side two more days to prepare for the Grand Final
Penrith will play the Brisbane Broncos on Sunday for a chance to compete for a record fifth consecutive premiership
‘A lot of people have been a bit critical as if we want to play Friday, so you have to put them on Sunday.
‘Like at the end of the day, the NRL made the decision, not us.’
Brisbane great Corey Parker also slammed the move when announced by the NRL last week, labelling it ‘lop-sided, poorly done and selfish from the NRL.’
Head office have defended the move, insisting there is little difference in the impact of turnarounds once they reach seven days or beyond.
‘Once you get to that level of rest and recovery, we were really cognisant of the fact that seven days is key,’ NRL CEO Andrew Abdo said.
‘If you look at the regular season, obviously we have byes, so you have some teams playing teams that have effectively had two weeks’ recovery.
‘We’re talking about the best professional athletes on the planet, and the clubs do an unbelievable job in terms of high-performance management.’
