Roger Gould (rugby)
| Full name | Roger Gould | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | 4 April 1957 | ||||||||||||||||
| Height | 193 cm (6 ft 4 in) | ||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 95 kg (209 lb) | ||||||||||||||||
| Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||
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| Position(s) | Fullback | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| National team(s) | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Points) |
| 1980-1987 | Australia | 25 | (86) |
Roger Gould was a fullback for both Queensland and the Wallabies. He first played for Queensland in 1978 and for Australia in 1980. His last match for Australia was in the 1987 World Cup.
Gould's career was significantly limited by injury.
Gould was elected to the Queensland Sport Hall of Fame in 2009 and added to the Queensland team of the century.
Former Australian winger David Campese in On a Wing and a Prayer wrote of Gould that:
Campese further writes in Campo: Still Entertaining that:
Roger was a big bloke for a fullback, had the most massive calf muscles I have seen on any footballer, and could punt a ball into a different post code. But he was also an attacking weapon from fullback like we have probably not had since, until Chris Latham brought that same sense of involvement to the position. He timed his runs into the backline perfectly and, because of his size, caused panic in rival defences. His own defence was sure and safe. Gould really was the complete fullback package.
Former Australian five-eighth Mark Ella writes in Path to Victory that:
If relied on Roger a lot. He could see if your angles to attack weren't right. Things like that. Whenever I played against Queensland, we tried to keep the ball away from him. You don't put up too many high kicks to him because he's so safe. Long balls are out. Roger simply sends them soaring back with interest deep into your half. He's cool, too. Roger has been around and knows exactly what's going on with his life. Nothing worries him. Things can be falling apart around us, but Roger stays as cool as ever. When the hassles occurred over his trip to South Africa, he stuck to his point of view. Nothing would change it.
In Path to Victory Mark Ella compared Roger Gould to Serge Blanco by writing that:
Former Australian coach Alan Jones has called Gould the best player he ever coached. In Wallaby Gold: The History of Australian Test Rugby Jones is recorded as saying that, "...my best player, I think, was Roger Gould. If your defensive line is going to hold up, the opposition are going to roof it, and you've just got to have someone who's absolutely rock-solid. Gould was a flawless. He was a freak. He did did wonderful things."
In Ella: The Definitive Biography Alan Jones is documented as saying:
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