Rugby league guru Phil Gould has urged St George Illawarra to sit out as many suspended players as possible for the club's upcoming matches against Manly and South Sydney.
The rugby league world was rocked this week after it was revealed 13 St George Illawarra players broke the NRL's biosecurity protocols, in which they breached the New South Wales government's stay at home orders by having a house party.
The party, which occurred at Paul Vaughan's house, resulted in individual fines and one-game suspensions for the 12 players who attended.
The NRL announced the suspensions handed down to the players must be split across a minimum of two rounds and a maximum of four rounds, starting from Round 18 next week when the Dragons clash with premiership hopefuls, Manly. The NRL will police how the bans are implemented in an attempt to ensure that the team isn't weakened so badly that the game effectively becomes a forfeit.
But with Manly amassing more than 50 points in each of their past three games, while having won six of their past seven matches, Gould said even if St George Illawarra was at full strength, they would be no match for the Sea Eagles.
"Their next game is next weekend against Manly," he told Wide World of Sports' Six Tackles with Gus podcast.
"That's a game where you could play full strength and not win anyway.
"I would [concede]. I would try to wear as many of the suspensions as I could in that game, and say, 'alright, let's see if we can win the ones we can. Let's win and aim for two out of the next four'.
"It keeps them in top eight contention."
Gould's comments come following a Sydney Morning Herald report, which claims the Dragons have discussed sitting out as many as six of the 12 suspended players for the Manly clash.
The Dragons, who currently sit seventh on the ladder, face Manly, Gold Coast, South Sydney and Canberra over their next four rounds.
Gould said he would fancy the Dragons at close to full strength to take down the Titans and Raiders, but not the Sea Eagles and Rabbitohs – which are the two fixtures he's urged the club to use to sit the majority of the suspended players out.
"They've got Manly, then the following week they play the Titans at home – that's a game they should win," he added.
"I would like to be at full strength for that and have every player available.
"Get most of your suspension away in week one against Manly and try and field as close to full strength against the Titans the following week.
"The following week they play the Rabbitohs, I would wear the rest of the suspensions in that one. I would get it all over in three weeks.
"I'd make sure we're as close to full strength in the Titans' game, then in week four, it's down to Canberra against the Raiders, which is a winnable game as well.
"I would make sure that I was as close to full strength against the Titans and Raiders as possible.
"Their attitude might be to do two or three each week and try to win all four – but you could lose all four."
Should the Dragons elect to use up the bulk of their suspensions against the better sides in Manly and third-placed South Sydney, Gould admits the NRL will "probably" block the move to protect the league's integrity, as well as "the integrity of the broadcast."
If that is the case, the former NSW Origin coach believes it would go against prior "precedents", with the league regularly allowing matches where teams have been far from full strength.
"Whether or not there have been further stipulations where they can't have any more than four or five out at a time I don't know, but from a club perspective, that's how I would be looking to handle it," Gould added.
"Whether the league will allow them to do that, whether the broadcasters will kick up a stink … we've seen it happen before.
"We've seen an under-strength Melbourne side go through a whole season where they couldn't earn premiership points.
"So far as the integrity of the result, there's plenty of precedents. We do it with Origin, we make teams play without their rep stars. That affects the integrity of the game, that affects integrity of the result
"I don't know if the league can enforce too heavily."
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