Veteran rugby league reporter Phil Rothfield has responded to Bulldogs supremo Phil Gould’s staggering rant claiming the membership’s pursuit of Titans star Tino Fa’asuamaleaui was “made up”.
Rothfield broke the story initially in his Monday column, revealing Canterbury-Bankstown have been getting ready to supply Fa’asuamaleaui a $4 million contract and a share of Laundy Hotels.
That funding into motels owned by the membership’s main sponsor reportedly got here with a assured 10 to 12 per cent annual return, which was confirmed by Arthur Laundy himself.
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Speaking on 100% Footy on Monday night time, Gould got here out all weapons blazing, slamming the report and likewise delivering a scathing assault on revered journalist Michael Chammas.
But Rothfield has now had his say and defined how the story happened on Fox League’s NRL 360 on Tuesday night time.
“It was absolutely no attempt to destabilise Canterbury, Gus is doing a pretty good job of that himself, look at the premiership ladder,” Rothfield stated.
“He’s on eight, nine hundred thousand a year. He might tell you they aren’t going backwards but last season they were in 12th, not in 15th.
“I worked on this all weekend… two Sydney clubs told me over the weekend they’d pulled out of the race for Tino because they couldn’t beat Canterbury.
“They were offering a million a year, and an investment opportunity and a money-back guarantee with the Bulldogs.
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“I spoke to Tino’s manager, Simon Mammino who confirmed there was interest from the Bulldogs, there was a meeting that was going to take place.
“Next thing I have to confirm the pub side of the story… I also spoke to a couple of other agents to get a better understanding of how the Melbourne Storm investment with Betr works and how this could possibly work.
“My last job on Sunday was to ring Arthur Laundy himself, the boss of Laundy Hotels, a billionaire and major sponsor of the Bulldogs.
“We had a 10-minute conversation, he took me through it blow by blow how he was going to achieve this. How Canterbury were so low down on the ladder that they have got to pay overs to get players.”
Gould made a sweeping declaration he had “never spoken to Tino” and labelled Rothfield’s story “childish”
“He (Laundy) is in there trying to help them, Gus has blown up because his club has been exposed for an obvious attempt to rort the cap,” Rothfield stated.
“He’s been exposed, he’s been caught out with it.
“… I thanked him [Laundy] and I said, ‘Mate this is a really good column for Monday’… but 10 minutes later he actually rang me back,” Rothfield revealed.
“He said, ‘Buzz can I actually change one of my quotes, I’m not comfortable saying that’. I then read him back every quote that was to appear in the column. So what Gus said, that this was a private conversation and not designed to go into the newspaper is complete crap.”
NRL360 host Braith Anasta additionally stated: “He (Gould) made out like you tricked Arthur in to the article”.
Rothfield then made the massive declare he would fortunately sit down with Gould in a courtroom to settle whether or not or not the story was fabricated.
He additionally revealed the penalty the Bulldogs might have been dealing with if the NRL didn’t step in to dam the mammoth contract provide.
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“I know he did, I texted Arthur as soon as I saw it. Arthur knows the true story, I’ve got the whole conversation written down,” Rothfield stated.
“There was no misrepresentation whatsoever, I honestly feel… what am I supposed to do if Arthur says I am going to guarantee them 10 to 12 per cent, I am going to guarantee their money.
“Do they really think as a journalist I’m not going to print that?
“I’ll tell you something else, the last team who tried something like this with giving guaranteed investments were the Parramatta Eels with Corey Norman.
“They got fined a million dollars and they lost competition points, now if I hadn’t have made this public… would it have happened?
“That’s what he is dirty about Braith, I didn’t break one rule of journalism with this.
“For Gould to get on last night, it was a disgrace.”
Rothfield additionally took intention at Gould for his spray he levelled at The Sydney Morning Herald’s Michael Chammas on 100% Footy on Monday night time.
Gould claimed Chammas has tried to “destabilise” him and the membership “100 times” however refused to expose any particulars or present examples.
“I couldn’t be bothered, you’re not worth it. You’re not worth it,” Gould stated.
That response — and the assault as a complete on Chammas’ integrity — didn’t sit nicely with Rothfield.
And I’ll let you know what else he did final night time, I’ve a number of respect for Michael Chammas… he tore him a brand new one final night time,” Rothfield stated.
“… It is defamatory what he said [about Rothfield’s report], and I am happy to go in to any courtroom with Gus, lay our facts on the table and get to the bottom of it.”
Source web site: www.foxsports.com.au
