Canterbury general manager of football Gus Gould has created an awkward moment of live television after refusing to answer a question from Nine host James Bracey.
Poring over the most controversial moment of Wednesday night’s State of Origin series-opener at Accor Stadium, Gould turned his chair away from the broadcast cameras and told Bracey to “ask someone else” about it.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Phil Gould refuses question on Kalyn Ponga send-off
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The moment in question was Kalyn Ponga’s send-off for shoulder-charging Tolu Koula in the 57th minute, which sparked a pulsating New South Wales comeback from 14 points down — having also been 20 points adrift in the first half — to beat Queensland in an Origin classic.
Koula made a line-break down the left side and was less than 20 metres from the tryline when he was flattened by Ponga, who came in from the side with a bone-crunching shoulder charge.
Tempers flared after the hit, which Nine commentators Cameron Smith and Andrew Johns expected to land Ponga in the sin bin.
But Smith and Johns were left shocked when referee Ashley Klein gave Ponga a full send-off, despite replays showing the contact was mostly head on head and shoulder on shoulder.
Koula went off with blood coming from his face and failed his head injury assessment, ruling him out for the remainder of the game.
Discussing Klein’s decision after the game, former NSW coach Brad Fittler agreed that it was a surprise to send Ponga him off, but stressed that the onus was on the player not to injure his opponent, regardless of how he hit him.
“As a defender, if you’re going to come in to tackles in those situations, that you’ve got full responsibility, and you need to be on the downside rather than being over-aggressive. That’s why he sent him off,” Fittler said.
In an open discussion that also included Darren Lockyer and Gould, Bracey then turned to the latter for his opinion.
“Gus, you’re heavily involved in clubland as well — do the players see it like that? That they have the responsibility as players to make sure that they look after whoever they’re tackling?” Bracey said to Gould.
Gould let the question hang in silence for a moment before giving his answer.
“Ahh, James, I suggest you ask someone else, mate, rather than me, if you don’t mind. I’d like you to keep your job,” Gould said.
Doing his best to brush past the awkward moment, Bracey did his best to justify asking the question of Gould.
“We’re having an open discussion about an incident that was out there on the park tonight,” Bracey said.
“And in the end, it’s a tackle that in the end has gone wrong for the player. No doubt about that.”
Earlier, Queensland legend Lockyer said it was the defining moment of the game.
“I’m still in shock with the Kalyn Ponga decision. That’s the turning point; we lose the game off the back of that,” he said.
“Credit to New South Wales, but there’ll be a lot of people north of the border that struggle to accept that decision.”
Ponga had been one of the Maroons’ best as they shot out to a 20-0 lead after 21 minutes, looking threatening from the opening touches.
Following the hit, Klein conferred with bunker official Chris Butler, telling him he believed it should be a send-off before ending Ponga’s night.
With him off the field, NSW sprung to life, scoring three times in the final 18 minutes to take a famous victory at Accor Stadiu
Ponga’s send off made the Newcastle No.1 the first player since Joseph Aukuso-Suallii in the 2024 series opener to be given their marching orders.
If Ponga was to cop a grade-three shoulder-charge sanction, he would be ruled out of Origin II in Melbourne on June 17.
A grade-two charge or lower would free him to play in that contest.
Koula, meanwhile, won’t play again until game two with both of Manly’s next two matches coming in the next eight days.
With AAP
