'What do they get out of that?': Phil Gould fires back over 'moronic' leaked photo amid Bulldogs slide

Bulldogs boss Phil Gould has spoken about the side's poor run of form, while also taking aim at the leaked photo of him meeting with an off-contract Titans player.

Gould hadn't spoken publicly about Canterbury for a number of weeks but was quizzed about the team following a fifth-straight loss to the Sharks at Magic Round.

The general manager of football admitted on Nine's 100% Footy that the Bulldogs were "struggling" but remained confident their preparation would help turn things around.

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"There's no doubt they're struggling, but I've seen all this before," Gould said.

"There are a number of reasons why we're struggling at the moment and there's not much we can do about it. We've got to just keep turning up and giving it our best shot.

"The disappointing thing the other night was the start, we were down 24-0 after 20 minutes and we actually won the next hour. They're fighting on, but we have that bad 20-minute period every week and it's costing them games.

"There are a number of factors why we've gone the way we have over the past five weeks, but we're not whinging about it and we're not looking for excuses.

"We've just got to get some better form back on the field - it belies the way they train and prepare - we've just got to get some wins."

This time last year, Canterbury were leading the competition before the back end of their season fell away, coinciding with Lachlan Galvin's arrival at the club.

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This season, the Bulldogs have won three games and lost seven, placing them in the bottom four and staring down the barrel of missing the finals.

While the "top Dog" is remaining positive things can turn around this year, he was also spotted meeting with Gold Coast dummy-half Sam Verrills over the weekend.

Verrills is unsigned for 2027 and has fallen out of favour with Titans coach Josh Hannay, making him a potential target for Gould to bring to Belmore.

While he didn't give anything away on the meeting itself, Gould did fire back at whoever took the image of him sitting down with Verrills during Magic Round.

"I must have had 12 or 14 meetings around Brisbane over the four days I was up there over the weekend - I met a lot of young players, parents and managers," he said.

"The mentality of some moron that wants to hide behind a pole and take a photo of you to send it to the papers, what do they get out of that? Who cares, honestly.

"Anyway, I had a lot of meetings on the weekend."

Verrills is a premiership winner, having tasted success with the Roosters in 2019, and has played more than 100 first-grade games.