Phil Gould has had his say on the NRL's decision to suspend Dragons forward Ryan Couchman for four games after a 'hip-drop' tackle saw J'maine Hopgood tear his ACL.

The Bulldog's head honcho labelled the call "harsh", saying the match review panel relies too much on the context of the injury result in determining a punishment. 

Couchman pled guilty to the offence which will see Hopgood miss the entire 2026 NRL season.

When appearing on the Wide World of Sports' Six Tackles with Gus podcast, Gould believed the young Dragon did not premeditate the injury.

"It's not what he intended to do, it's just how the tackle ended up. I don't know what he could have done to avoid it, is my point," Gould said.

"I think we're way too harsh on this type of tackle, that's my own point of view, I'm not a great believer in injury or what have you being a deciding factor in the determination of the penalty either.

"I don't know who makes that decision, I don't know why they make that decision. That's now out of the control of everyone.

"I don't know who the people are that decide that or why they decide that.

"I'll go on the record every week, I'll say it every week till I'm blue in the face, you know, the whole match review and the whole judiciary system is unfair on our players at the moment.

"It's way over the top. And I think this is an over the top suspension."

Couchman faced the judiciary on Tuesday night, accompanied by head coach Shane Flanagan, club chief executive Tim Watsford and head of football Ben Haran.

Couchman's argument was that he was trying to mitigate the situation by trying to move out of the hip-drop red zone. 

"I knew I lost the contact and I lost my balance. My thought was to not land on his leg," Couchman said via NRL.com's live judiciary blog.

"I was falling on the ground and I was trying to land my backside on the ground and not his leg. My job is to make the tackle and I didn't want to miss the tackle.

"My torso falls on his leg which I understand is a risk of injury. I didn't mean for that to happen. I didn't have a grip of J'maine with my left hand and I tried to grab onto Damien.

He had this to say after the hearing was completed, giving his highest condolences to Hopgood during his recovery.

"I thought I got a fair hearing, and I want to thank the panel for that," Couchman added.

"I also want to apologise to J'maine and wish him all the best with his recovery. I know what it is like, so I am behind him.

"It can be a tough process but I'm sure he will have great support behind him, and I want to extend my support to him."