Canterbury boss Phil Gould has taken a cheeky shot at bitter foes Parramatta over their handling of star forward’s Ryan Matterson refusal to pay $4000 fine and instead sit out of the first three games of the new NRL season.

The Eels are currently 0-3.

“If the decision came through to us [at the Bulldogs] the player had been fined rather than suspended – we go, ‘Yay, he’s able to play’,” Gould said on Channel Nine’s 100% Footy.

“I think every player in the game feels that way and I think every administrator feels that way.

“I certainly hope I’m never faced with a situation where a player comes to me and says, ‘I’d rather not play than pay the fine’.

“If a player ever came to me and said he would rather miss the game than pay the fine, whatever the fine was, I would put him in the back of the car and take him for a drive. I can only assume because it was the end of the season and they’d all gone on holiday.

“I can’t believe this got through to the keeper, where you’ve got a marquee player out for three weeks because he won’t pay a $4000 fine.

“I mean, please.”