{"id":698758,"date":"2026-05-27T22:44:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T22:44:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/698758\/"},"modified":"2026-05-27T22:44:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T22:44:10","slug":"state-of-origin-phil-gould-refuses-to-answer-kalyn-ponga-send-off-question-video-reaction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/698758\/","title":{"rendered":"State of Origin: Phil Gould refuses to answer Kalyn Ponga send-off question, video, reaction"},"content":{"rendered":"

It remains the biggest talking point of the 2026 Origin opener, but Channel 9 commentator Phil Gould was having no part in commenting on Kalyn Ponga\u2019s controversial shot on Tolu Koula<\/a>, or the send-off that followed it.<\/p>\n

Watch every game of every round of the Premiership Season LIVE with no ad-breaks during play on FOX LEAGUE, available on Kayo Sports | New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Gould created a tense on-air moment in the wash-up of Nine\u2019s Game I one coverage on Wednesday when host James Bracey asked him for an insight on the Ponga incident, which reduced Queensland to 12 men and changed the momentum of the game dramatically.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cGus you\u2019re heavily involved in club land as well, players, do they see it like that?,\u2019\u2019 Bracey asked the Bulldogs general manager of football. \u201cThat they have the responsibility as defenders to look after whoever they are tackling?\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

Gould paused before replying: \u201cJames I suggest you ask someone else, rather than me. If you don\u2019t mind.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d like you to keep your job.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

Bracey attempted to pick up the discussion point again before Gould quickly moved the discussion elsewhere.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re having an open discussion about an incident there on the park tonight and in the end it has gone wrong for the player, no doubt about that,\u2019\u2019 said Bracey, who is also a Perth Bears board member.<\/p>\n

PLAYER RATINGS<\/p>\n

QLD: Billy\u2019s big gamble backfires; play that could haunt QLD rookie<\/a><\/p>\n

NSW: Debut stunner sparks awkward Moses dilemma; huge Daley call pays off<\/a><\/p>\n

Origin Erupts after Ponga SEND OFF!! | 00:31<\/p>\n

Ponga was controversially sent from the field by referee Ashley Klein, but ultimately escaped a ban for the incident, which was ruled a Grade 2 charge from the Match Review Committee.<\/p>\n

Gould has shown in the past that he isn\u2019t afraid to bare his teeth live on-air. Last year the Bulldogs GM went toe-to-toe with veteran reporter turned football general manager Michael Chammas in a heated exchange on Nine\u2019s 100% Footy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t mislead anyone… mind your words son,\u201d was Gould\u2019s final warning to Chammas upon challenging him about the Lachlan Galvin saga.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It remains the biggest talking point of the 2026 Origin opener, but Channel 9 commentator Phil Gould was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":698759,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[54654,64,63,119661,340451,340452,1126,35629,340450,33215,70006,25291,83950,340453,85,18394,234498],"class_list":["post-698758","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ashley-klein","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-board-member","tag-controversial-shot","tag-debut-stunner","tag-discussion-point","tag-final-warning","tag-james-bracey","tag-lord-gould-of-brookwood","tag-match-review-committee","tag-michael-chammas","tag-player-ratings","tag-send-off-question","tag-sports","tag-talking-point","tag-words-son"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/698758","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=698758"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/698758\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/698759"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=698758"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=698758"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=698758"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}