'Tear in my eye': Gould lifts lid on phone call to NSW bolter

Canterbury Bulldogs general manager Phil Gould has opened up on his emotional phone call to Max King are the prop's stunning rise to an Origin debut.

King's journey has been well documented, having suffered from a rare heart condition in his junior years.

The prop also had to stop playing in 2021 due to a foot deformity known as Haglund's Syndrome. In 2022, he became a Bulldog and now in 2025 he's a Blue.

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Gould, who became general manager in 2021, said his first words to King on Sunday night were "I've got a tear in my eye".

"Max has been on quite a journey with the Bulldogs," he said on Nine's 100% Footy.

"He was probably the first player I signed back in 2021 at the end of COVID and Max had been at the Melbourne Storm, he suffered an injury and was out for 12 months and couldn't get it right, he couldn't get the injury right at all.

"I actually got a note from a fella he was working with at Newcastle and they were training up there and his manager rang and I said 'if we can get him right we'll bring him down and put him on contract'.

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"We gave him an opportunity and it was during COVID, if you remember then we couldn't drive anywhere or go anywhere and him and his dad were sneaking down from Newcastle down to Sydney.

"It took ages. He was out for a long time. I remember I was leaving Belmore one day, it was around Christmas time in 2021 and I noticed there was a player out on the field and I drove around to watch and it was Max King and it was his first run on grass for a long time and he got to the end of the field and I beeped the horn and gave him a thumbs up. He's kept getting better and better since that time."

In 2023, the Bulldogs had a horror time. It was Cameron Ciraldo's first year in charge and the club finished 15th with seven wins.

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King played 23 matches across the season and Gould revealed the sacrifice he made throughout that year. 

"Two years ago when we had a struggling year, we had a lot of injuries and results weren't going well. He played the whole season with a terrible sternum injury, he lost a lot of weight, he couldn't do weights week to week, he backed up every week, he played with injury every week, people didn't realise what it was," he said.

"That was the character stuff we knew we had a winner and a leader in the club. He played through that difficulty and he's got better troops around him now and you can see what he is. He's a fit and healthy young man, he's earned his spot and do very good."