Canterbury football boss Phil Gould has teed off on the NRL’s scheduling department for failing to give his team enough time between games.
The Bulldogs won a golden point thriller over North Queensland on Sunday night, and will back up to play South Sydney on Good Friday at 4.05pm.
The issue has been exacerbated by a casualty ward that is overflowing at Belmore, with the club having 10 players on the injured list this week.
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Each club must name a 22-player squad on Tuesday, but senior lists are limited to 30 contracts, plus development players. Clubs can apply to the NRL for exemption if they are unable to name 22 fit players.
”We’ve got a lot of players out, but we’ve been that way pretty much most of the season, and we had some more injuries the other night,” Gould told Wide World of Sports’ Six Tackles with Gus podcast.
“It’s a very short turnaround. We go from playing the last game on Sunday night to Friday afternoon.
“It’s a four-day recovery, it’s ridiculous.
“People want to talk about welfare, and the RLPA want to argue about time off during the holidays. What about this?
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“We’ve got the two teams that played Sunday night having to back up and play on Friday.
“What sort of scheduling is that compared to everyone else? And why does that happen?”
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The Cowboys have also copped a short turnaround and will play the Dolphins in the 8pm Friday game.
Canterbury coach Cameron Ciraldo has named Max King (eye) and Jacob Preston (hand) in the team despite both being injured on Sunday.
Gould admits the club isn’t sure whether either will be ready to play the Rabbitohs.
“They really will only have had one light session between the game the other night… we probably won’t know the team until Friday morning,” Gould said.
“Particularly where we are at the moment with so many injury concerns, it limits the amount of time there is for others to recover.”
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