Phil Gould believes he may have accidentally thrown ARL commission chairman Peter Beattie with the question that led to his Cronulla Sharks gaffe.
Gould admitted on the Six Tackles with Gus podcast he was left floored when Beattie said he "wouldn't have a bloody clue" what the name of the team was that played out of the Sutherland Shire on 100% Footy earlier this week.
But the Penrith supremo and NRL commentator Gould suspected he may have confused the ex-Queensland Premier with the Sydney-based geographical nature of the question.
"I just think he got confused. I somehow think it's my fault because of the way I asked the question," Gould said.
"Talking about a team from the Sutherland Shire and he is from Queensland after all, he hasn't lived in Sydney all that long.
"I think maybe he thought I was trying to trick him about some sort of junior league team. Because I'm sure he knows who the Cronulla Sharks are.
"I don't think he really listened to the question, I think once I said Sutherland Shire he thought: 'I don't know what he's talking about'."
Gould was making reference to former chairman John Grant's error in 2014, in which he called Cronulla the "Hawks" during a Kangaroos team announcement.
Gould said he believed it would kick off the interview with Beattie on a lighter note.
Beattie apologised for the incident later that night on social media, and has since blamed the moment on a "mental blank".
Cronulla coach Shane Flanagan also said he wasn't offended or overly concerned by the error after Beattie previously visited his team's dressing rooms just three days earlier.
"I met him last week up at the Cowboys and I don't think we talked about the Sharks - we talked about Cronulla," he laughed.
"He spoke to myself, Paul (Gallen) and Wade Graham. He's got a big job to do and it's a minor detail for me.
"I think he's the right person for the job and let's just hope it was a mental blank."
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