“The NRL should run world rugby league” – Gus Gould backs NRL to buy Super League

Australian pundit and Canterbury Bulldogs General Manager Gus Gould has supported the idea of the NRL buying Super League.

Gould is one of the big personalities in the game down under and he made a major splash with UK fans when he predicted that Penrith Panthers could declare at half-time in their World Club Challenge loss to St Helens.

The Australian took plenty of pelters but his opinion is generally one that carries a lot of weight and a lot of respect, which is why his latest thoughts are so important.

Reports of Super League being bought by the NRL emerged last week as part of the fallout from the World Club Challenge and Gould has now reacted to the news via his own podcast.

Speaking on the Six Tackles with Gus podcast segment on Channel Nine in Australia, Gould has thrown his support behind a buyout.

He explained: “There was talk last week of the NRL purchasing the UK Super League, which I think is a great idea. I recommended this four or five years ago.

“It’s a perfect gap between us and the US and I have no doubt that we will see a World Club Challenge in Vegas as part of a season-opening weekend. I have no doubt that we will see a women’s game in Vegas.

“That’s the organic growth, showing the US not just our product but also our inclusiveness with men and women and showing that we’re international.”

“I think we could really help the UK game” – Gould backs Super League buyout

It’s clear that the game needs to adapt and grow and after the NRL posted record profits then potentially their involvement in the English game could be a positive.

Gould continued with the train of thought surrounding taking English sides out to Las Vegas alongside the NRL teams.

“By bringing clubs from England to play against Australian clubs in the US, we could have a two-weekend thing,” the 66-year-old argued.

“We could play the World Club Challenge the weekend before, and then you could play the NRL. I don’t know about availability and all of that, but we’ve got to keep making a noise.”

Continuing, he said: “I think we could really help the UK game. I think we could then get rid of what I think is a really ineffective international rugby league board, and we could have the NRL being the EPL of world rugby league. The game should emanate here from the NRL. The NRL should run world rugby league.

“There could be development pathways between competitions, getting back to international football, international timetables that go over five years, there’s a lot of things that can help if you’ve got control of the whole thing; the international game, the UK Super League, which is the second biggest competition, and we can help New Zealand, which we’ve got to do.

“There’s a real opportunity in New Zealand. We’ve got to have another team there and pathways and programmes to help them over there. The Pacific Islands—we’ve all seen the huge opportunity there too—so bring it all under one banner and have one body control the whole lot. That should be the aim.”