Phil Gould has taken aim at the Rugby League Players’ Association over the amount of annual leave afforded to players after the NRL season ends.
Gould’s disapproval comes after news that Latrell Mitchell won’t feature in the Kangaroos’ tri-nations series at the end of the year after suffering hand injury against the Wests Tigers in round 22, as revealed by 9news reporter Michael Chammas.
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“He’s meeting with the surgeon tomorrow (Tuesday), it’s not clear whether he requires surgery just yet but if he doesn’t require surgery he needs to rest it because the club said he’s risking a similar injury to Angus Crichton a couple of years ago which required his middle finger being amputated,” he said on Nine’s 100% Footy.
“So Latrell Mitchell, my understanding is he will not feature for Australia in the end of season Test series.”
Australia won last year’s World Cup in England last year, but it came at a cost for many clubs.
The Cowboys struggled at the start of the season with many putting that down to Jeremiah Nanai, Murray Taulagi, Reuben Cotter, Valentine Holmes, Peta Hiku, Luciano Leilua and Jason Taumololo featuring in the tournament.
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Gould specified that event showed the problems presented by the annual leave afforded to players.
“Last year we had a World Cup, a lot of our rep players didn’t join training until January and started this season underdone, that led to a lot of niggling injuries in the early part of the year,” he said.
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“You compound that with another off season because of these ridiculous return to play, return to train type things that they have with the RLPA now about the time you’ve got to have off … unbelievable the amount of time they get off.
“But because you can’t get them back to training and because they’ve got to have time off, poor dears, you play this rep football at the end of the year, and you do that year after year after year, they’re getting less and less training and less and less of the training they need and that’s where injuries are going to occur.
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“So you’re going to get some that will pull out, some that will want to play for their country, some won’t, some will make up excuses, some won’t and then they’ll all have a rest until after Christmas and they’ll start slow again next year and we’ll have to get on with it from there.”
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As general manager of the Canterbury Bulldogs, Gould gave an insight into the conversations that take place between clubs and players ahead of representative football matches, while emphasising his love for the spectacle.
“I think the player and the club usually have a conversation and work out what’s in the best interests of the player and the club but there are some that are very passionate about playing for their country,” he explained.
“I love players playing rep football, I want them to play rep football.
“(But) the scheduling is a bit useless at times and you have these silly rules about time off and when they can return to training and giving the poor dears less training time.”