EXCLUSIVE: Phil Gould claims 'self interest' from coaches led to bench rule 'overreaction'

Phil Gould has gone to town over the NRL's rule changes, claiming that "self interest" from coaches led to an "overreaction" regarding the new six-man benches.

Leading into the 2026 season, the league revealed a stack of alterations to the rules, with the controversial kickoff change scrapped at the last minute.

However, one rule that did get over the line was implementing six-man benches, with only four players allowed to take the field for a maximum of eight substitutions.

READ MORE: Aussie's teary reaction to silver after brutal family request

READ MORE: Teen star's brave final after nasty crash causes injury

READ MORE: Fowler returns as Matildas name Asian Cup squad

It will undoubtedly give clubs greater flexibility on gameday, especially if an injury to a specialist position player occurs - but not everyone is on board with the move.

The decision from the ARL Commission was guided by a number of high-profile coaches who sit on the rules committee, including Wayne Bennett and Ivan Cleary - something Gould is vehemently against and believes "should not be allowed" to happen.

"I think it's a bit of an overreaction, but it's also the influence of coaches on the rules," he said on Wide World of Sports' Six Tackles With Gus.

"I don't agree with this. I think one of the things about coaching and the strategy of coaching ... is to have players that give you coverage across the board. I think 17 players is more than enough to cover you through 80 minutes of football.

"We've got greater scrutiny around head knocks, which does make it hard for coaches to cover all the positions because that can happen at any time to any player, and they're taken off the field for 15 minutes, so there's frustration amongst the coaches.

"I think this has been mainly driven by coaches who, because of the roster or the player type that they've got, prefer to have four big forwards on the bench so they can rotate their forwards throughout the game. They've been pushing for this that we need to have more coverage on the bench so that they can then make better decisions.

"I've always been against this. Head coaches should not be involved in rules committees in any way, shape, or form. They should not be allowed there.

"They can't help but act out of self-interest, they don't act in the best interest of the game - and they're not always right, either."

Storm captain Harry Grant admitted his concerns over the rule change when it was first announced, but could see the "trial and error" aspect of tweaking it.

Gould then raised issue with the lack of football some players could end up getting due to the rule changes, which has already been seen with the 18th man in recent years.

Last year, the perfect example was Daniel Atkinson, who struggled to make the best 17 for the Sharks most weeks, but was picked as 18th man for a large chunk of the season and featured in very little NRL or NSW Cup games as a result.

The current Bulldogs boss believes the new rules will only exacerbate that problem.

"I've got some real problems with that," Gould said.

"It's going to mean less football for a lot of players. They are going to be getting less minutes because coaches are going to have to be more strategic about holding players back in case they get the head knock or in case they get the injury to a player where they need a specialist to go on and do that job.

"It means fellas are going to suit up on the weekend, it's part of that top 17, with no guarantee that they're going to get a game, or at least one of them is going to be sitting there thinking 'well, am I going to get on or not?' - and there's plenty of times he won't.

"It's not good development for the players. Our lower grades and our top grades don't meet up draw-wise. They all play on different days in different locations.

"I simply don't like the rule and I don't like the motivation behind it. I don't think the motivation was sufficient to make this interchange change."