Canterbury Bulldogs director of football Phil Gould has emphatically denied his club will chase Tino Fa'asuamaleaui.
Fa'asuamaleaui is a free agent alongside David Fifita after it was revealed the pair have clauses in their contracts that allow them to sign with a rival club if the Titans sacked Justin Holbrook.
Both players have had offers from rival clubs already, with just three months to confirm if they will stay with the Titans or make their departures.
One of the clubs rumoured to be interested in club captain Fa'asuamaleaui is the Canterbury Bulldogs, with News Corp's Phil Rothfield revealing the club has offered him $4 million over four years to go with an investment opportunity in a pub owned by club sponsor Arthur Laundy.
Gould slammed the rumours on Channel 9s 100% Footy on Monday evening.
โI've never spoken to Tino, I've never met Tino,โ Gould said on the show.
โI wouldn't know who managed Tino. โIt's never been discussed within our club.
โThis article has come out of left field and someone has added two and two together and come up with five to try to destabilise our club.
โIt's been a common theme throughout this season and ever since I joined the club. It's a continuing childish thing that they do. That's life in the rugby league world.โ
He was then questioned further by The Sydney Morning Herald's Michael Chammas.
โDidn't I just answer that. It's made up. It's made up. Someone has just made it up," Gould said.
He was then asked if it was done simply to destabilise the Bulldogs.
โ100 per cent, 100 per cent. You do it yourself. You do it to me to destabilise me all the time. You've done it 100 times. You've been wrong that many times it's not funny," Gould said to Chammas.
It's believed the NRL has already ruled the idea of investment in a sponsor-owned business against the salary cap rules, but that didn't stop Rothfield from teeing off on Twitter at Gould after the denial, labelling it a "lie" from Gould.
For Gus to say heโs never been interested in Tino is a lie. He spoke to his manager last week to set up a meeting after Origin. That is a fact. Arthur Laundy was also fully aware the story and all his quotes re offering an Investment opportunity in his pubs were to be published.
— BUZZ ROTHFIELD (@BuzzRothfield) July 10, 2023
"For Gus to say he's never been interested in Tino is a lie. He spoke to his manager last week to set up a meeting after Origin. That is a fact. Arthur Laundy was also fully aware the story and all his quotes re offering an Investment opportunity in his pubs were to be published," Rothfield wrote.
It's not the first time Rothfield and Gould have had a public spat, with Rothfield last year accusing the Bulldogs of not being up to training standards.
Rothfield, at one point, claimed the club's new recruits were surprised by the lack of detail in pre-season training, particularly the non-use of drones.
Gould quickly hit back, providing the video footage of the club's training sessions during the pre-season, with Rothfield forced to then apologise to the Bulldogs for the mistake on the next episode of NRL 360 on Fox Sports.
They have also constantly had run-ins over transfer speculation, with Gould often defending the club's position, while Gould's denial that former coach Trent Barrett was on the way out last year was also proven wrong in just a matter of weeks.
