Phil Gould said that Penrith Panthers “should be able to declare at halftime” against St Helens in the World Club Challenge.
This led to a lot of blow back at Gould when Saints defeated Penrith 13-12.
Speaking on Six Tackles, Gould explained why Penrith were beaten explaining that he felt if Penrith could have their time again, they would prepare differently.
He also emphasised that the weather worked against the Panthers:
“The World Club Challenge I think was a wonderful opportunity for the Panthers that they missed. I think if they had their time over again they might have approached it a little bit differently.
“To have a World Cup final played at home, on your home ground, against a great club like St Helens, I was expecting a lot more.
“I didn’t know it was going to storm for 75 or 80 minutes of the game, those factors took away from what the Panthers were capable of doing. No excuse though, both teams had to play in it and St Helens played the conditions much better and performed brilliantly.
“I thought Panthers missed a real opportunity there. I don’t want to take anything away from the great win by St Helens but Panthers might have approached it differently.”
He also praised the way St Helens prepared for the game:
“St Helens came out in the camp for three weeks, they made a big deal out of this and they got themselves ready. We actually had dinner with Mike Rush, Paul Wellens and the CEO the night before in Canterbury.
“Mike Ross said ‘we’ll be hard to beat’, and Paul Wellens said ‘yeah we’re really ready, we’ve gone about it the right way with coming over, we’ve planned for three weeks, had a trial game and they’re going to know they’re in a game’.”
“Putting it bluntly they didn’t put their best foot forward at all and St Helens did, that’s what you have to do in the big games and they deserve the trophy. They’ve got it on the plane home and they can stick it to me all they like, good luck to them.”