Gould, who sacked Cleary from the Panthers at the end of 2015, knows the coach well.

The rugby league supremo suggested Cleary may be better off dodging the turmoil-consumed club for other opportunities.  

Cleary has been widely touted as Jason Taylor’s preplacement after he was sensationally sacked last week after just three rounds.

Wests have been in meltdown ever since and are fighting to keep their so-called ‘Big Four’ of James Tedesco, Aaron Woods, Mitchell Moses and Luke Brooks.

Gould warned Cleary to enter the Tigers den at his own risk. 

“If I’m Ivan Cleary, I don’t know that Wests Tigers is my number one choice,” Gould said on his Six Tackles With Gus podcast.

“A rebuild is a really hard job. If he looks at that, they haven’t got those four blokes (stars Aaron Woods, James Tedesco, Mitchell Moses and Luke Brooks) on contract, their lower grades are going poorly, the NRL team itself is going poorly … what upside is there?

“Ivan’s got to be very particular that the next job he does is a successful one.

“I’m sure he can improve them (the Tigers) but does he improve them to the extent where they become competitive in this competition?

“Ivan’s got something to weigh up and if there are other options out there, he’s probably wise to consider them all.”