{"id":665138,"date":"2026-05-12T02:57:21","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T02:57:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/665138\/"},"modified":"2026-05-12T02:57:21","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T02:57:21","slug":"bulldogs-boss-gould-reacts-to-bears-bid-for-help","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/665138\/","title":{"rendered":"Bulldogs boss Gould reacts to Bears\u2019 bid for help"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Canterbury boss Phil Gould has declared his opposition to the NRL offering salary cap relief to the Perth Bears as one of the new team\u2019s board members indicated they were hoping to have strict rules on third-party deals relaxed for them.<\/p>\n

Bears directors Daniel Dickson and James Bracey approached ARL Commission chairman Peter V\u2019landys for assistance last week<\/a> as concerns mount about the incoming club\u2019s inability to attract marquee players ahead of their entry to the competition in 2027.<\/p>\n

Bracey, who hosts Nine\u2019s 100% Footy program on which Gould appears weekly, confirmed on the show on Monday night that the Bears had reached out for help.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust to make it clear, when you talk salary cap dispensation, it\u2019s not about adding a couple of million bucks to the salary cap,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Asked what Perth were seeking, he said: \u201cMaybe get a bit of help with third parties, that would be nice. [There\u2019s a] bit of business over there – tap into that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Third-party agree agreements for players allow their earnings to be topped up but such deals have to be struck at \u201carm\u2019s length\u201d from clubs, who are forbidden from introducing would-be sponsors to players and their agents.<\/p>\n

\"TyranTyran Wishart is among the signings made by the Perth Bears.Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cClubs can\u2019t organise third parties,\u201d Gould, the Bulldogs general manager of football, replied to Bracey.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe it would be nice if Perth could maybe do a little bit of that over there,\u201d Bracey said.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Mal<\/a><\/p>\n

The exchange continued as Gould made clear his position. \u201cYou shouldn\u2019t be talking to the NRL, you should be talking to Perth. But you\u2019re not allowed to do that,\u201d the Bulldogs boss and Nine commentator said.<\/p>\n

The 17 existing clubs agreed to the addition of the Bears on the basis that they would not be provided with a salary cap edge.<\/p>\n

They are set to push for compensation if the NRL decides to provide dispensation to Perth<\/a> to boost their efforts to build a competitive squad. The NRL owns the Bears and the PNG Chiefs, who will join the competition in 2028 and can offer their recruits tax-free salaries via a $600 million Australian government-funded package.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat do you need help for? It\u2019s not a charity mate, it\u2019s a competition,\u201d Gould told Bracey on the weekly NRL panel show.<\/p>\n

Nine is the owner of this masthead.<\/p>\n

The NRL has declined to comment on whether it is considering coming to the aid of the Bears, who have announced the signing of 18 players.<\/p>\n

But the issue is likely to be a major discussion point when club chief executives meet with NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo in Brisbane on Friday.<\/p>\n

Unlike the Australian government-bankrolled Chiefs, which last month signed four-time premiership winner Jarome Luai, the Bears are on a level playing field with other teams.<\/p>\n

However, they have not been in direct competition for players with the Chiefs for most of the time they have been recruiting and they have been plagued by internal conflict.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Mal<\/a><\/p>\n

Bears general manager of football David Sharpe, a close ally of head coach Mal Meninga, resigned last month after falling out with chief executive Anthony De Ceglie.<\/p>\n

There have reportedly also been strained relations between Meninga and assistant coach Ben Gardiner, who will succeed the rugby league Immortal in Perth in 2029.<\/p>\n

In an interview with this masthead,<\/a> Meninga said he had no complaints about the lack of assistance from the NRL to attract top talent.<\/p>\n

\"InauguralInaugural Perth Bears coach Mal Meninga.Trevor Collens<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m more concerned with setting up the foundation pillars and the cultural bit where it creates a sustainable business,\u201d Meninga said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe only thing I want to add is that when they sign a player \u2013 and they have some wonderful concessions, don\u2019t get me wrong, it makes you jealous at times, I\u2019m not going to deny those feelings \u2013 that it\u2019s at market value.\u201d<\/p>\n

There has also been frustration at the NRL that Meninga has continued to be based in Canberra and that he had not yet relocated to Perth, sources not authorised to comment on the matter said.<\/p>\n

This masthead revealed this month that Perth had brought in a pyschologist with expertise in building stronger cultures<\/a> as it attempts to deal with friction behind the scenes.<\/p>\n

The Western Australia government has committed $65 million over seven years to the Bears and grassroots rugby league in the state.<\/p>\n

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\"ChrisChris Barrett<\/a> is a senior sports reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald. He is a former South-East Asia correspondent for the Herald and The Age.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":665139,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-665138","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/665138","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=665138"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/665138\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/665139"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=665138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=665138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=665138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}