Phil Gould has described the potential for the Perth Bears to throw a five-year $7.5 million deal at Tino Fa’asuamaleaui as “ridiculous”, while pledging his belief Des Hasler will remain at the Titans.
Fa’asuamaleaui’s contract has been a big talking point after his manager announced he’ll test the open market.
Mal Meninga made no secret of his desire to bring the representative front-rower to the new franchise and with that has come reports he will become the highest paid prop in the game.
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Fa’asuamaleaui’s management negotiated a new contract in 2023 after Justin Holbrook was sacked, which tied him down to the Titans for 10 years. But that contract had a get out clause which will make him available to offers from clubs on November 1.
Phil Gould doesn’t believe Tino Fa’asuamaleaui should be paid near $1.5 million a season. Getty/Nine
On Wide World of Sports’ Six Tackles with Gus, Gould was frustrated when discussing the clause.
“If I ever sat down with a player and a player manager who wanted the option to negotiate their way out of the contract … I’d say don’t bother coming or don’t bother staying, if that’s the way you feel,” he said.
“We want to make a five-year or ten-year commitment to you, we expect you to make a five or ten-year commitment to us.
“Having said that, clubs do move players, either for non-performing or salary cap reasons.”
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Fa’asuamaleaui and David Fifita’s contracts both had clauses when Holbrook’s time was up and Gould found it “extraordinary” that another was inserted for the prop.
“They’ve re-signed them to remove the exit clauses and put more back in … it doesn’t make sense to me,” he said.
As for the Bears’ mooted $7.5m offer, Gould believes it’s “media scuttlebutt”.
Tino Faasuamaleaui of the Titans. Getty
The Bulldogs general manager argued no front-rower is worth that sort of money, despite Fa’asuamaleaui being one of the best in the game.
“He’s a great player. He’s a really great player but the Titans are running last,” he said.
“If you don’t get the mix right and you don’t get the money right and you don’t get the important people in the important positions, you’re not going to win games.
“It’s the battle any club has when you’re talking about what’s the value of your player … so if you’re going to pay $1.5 million and your marquee player is going to be a front rower, right? He’s going to be a front rower who doesn’t play 80 minutes every week. You’ve got to pay someone else to play the rest of the game that he’s not going to play.
“Then who do you put into the positions that actually influence the scoreboard? He’s a great player. He is an outstanding front row forward. But there has to be a limit.
“If you can’t influence the scoreboard, it doesn’t matter how rough and tough your front-rower is. So I find that ridiculous.”
Gould also identified the risks that can come for such a big-money deal considering the Maroons prop spent the majority of the 2024 season on the sideline with injury.
“If that $1.5 million front-rower is out, you’re in trouble. You’re in trouble,” he said.
“He had all last season off. If you’ve got three or four front-rowers all on $300,000, $400,000, $500,000 each and one of them pulls out, it’s no big deal. You’ve got some depth and you’ve got people there to take their place.”
Fa’asuamaleaui’s decision to go to market has come from a desire to see a successful vision for the future from the Titans.
The club is currently last and the speculation has been that Des Hasler won’t continue as coach.
But there have been green shoots from the Titans in recent weeks, especially after Hasler sprayed the side after a loss.
Gould believes the Manly Sea Eagles premiership winner will continue on.
“I think he’ll stay at the Gold Coast Titans. My mail is that Des Hasler will survive and he’ll coach there again next year,” he said.
“I’ll be very, very surprised if he’s not coaching the Titans next year … And I’ll be very surprised if Tino’s not there next year.”
