For the first time since news broke on Monday, Canterbury Bulldogs GM of Football Phil Gould has addressed the rumours involving duo Reed Mahoney and Toby Sexton.
On Monday afternoon, the rumour mill went into overdrive at Belmore with reports emerging that halfback Toby Sexton was set to leave at the end of the season and hooker Reed Mahoney was granted permission to speak with rival teams.
Breaking his silence on the matter, Phil Gould set the record straight on the two matters as the club heads into their second bye of the season.
A formerย club skipper, Mahoney had one of his best seasons in theย NRLย during 2024, which saw the Bulldogs reach theย NRLย Finals series andย was even named in the extended squad for theย QLD Maroonsย as coverage forย Harry Grant.
However, this hasn't stopped him from continually being linked with exit rumours.
With the hooker contracted until the end of 2026 on a deal worth around $625,000 a season, Gould confirmed that he granted permission to his manager Sam Ayoub to talk with rival teams but only for the 2027 season - when he is no longer contracted at Belmore.
"I said by then the salary cap is going to be tight, happy for you to have a look at him if you want to. So it came at his request. How that got into the media I don't know and who leaked that I don't know," Gould said on 100% Footy.
"It was certainly at his request, it wasn't our request and there's absolutely no talk at all it's immediate.
"... that was just an innocent request from the manager some time ago."
In regards to Toby Sexton, Gould revealed that while the club are currently not involved in any contract discussions with the halfback and his management, he's "very happy" in what he is doing at the Bulldogs at the moment.
However, he took aim at Sexton's player manager (Tas Bartlett) who reportedly keeps pushing the Belmore-based club to enter contract talks with the playmaker.
"Just firstly on the articles regarding Toby Sexton, I haven't seen them but I'll guarantee you it's the same journalist that's written all the other ones in the last 12 months, who happens to be a friend of the manager who's agitating for Toby Sexton to get re-signed," Gould added.
"I ignore all that rubbish and I'm ignoring this rubbish. I met with Toby Sexton a number of times in the last month, talking about his football and where he stood contract-wise.
"I didn't want it to be playing on his mind. It's an important decision for us and it's an important decision for Toby.
"We spoke again on Friday and I admitted to him on Friday that the previous day I'd had some discussions with Lachlan Galvin, so we keep our players well informed, we're honest with them.
"Toby's very happy in what he's doing at the moment. We're not in any contract discussions with Toby at the moment, his manager keeps pushing for it and we keep saying no, we're on another mission."
