Bulldogs general manager Phil Gould has revealed how the infamous leaked photo of Viliame Kikau donning a Canterbury-Bankstown polo was released.

The Panthers backrower signed a lucrative four-year, $3.2 million deal which will begin in 2023 and the photo of him flanked by Gould and coach Trent Barrett was said to have left the Panthers hierarchy fuming.

Gould had previously apologised to Penrith bosses and also revealed a Canterbury Leagues Club employee who had access to CCTV footage was the source of the leak, but has since explained how it happened.

“It was a rogue security guard,” Gould said on Nine’s 100% Footy.

“We took some photos of him in the shirt because he’d be going to the World Cup at the end of the year and we probably wouldn’t see him until January and we needed something promotional.”

Gould explained that coach Trent Barrett wanted a photo with his star recruit.

“Trent (Barrett) wanted a photo with him, and then they asked me to come into the photo,” Gould said.

“When I went upstairs to see where the camera was I said ‘who’s got access to that?’ And it just turned out to be a fan, who happened to be a Panther fan.

“He didn’t leak it - he sent it to another bloke who was a Panther fan, and he leaked it.”

The employee was fired a result of the leak, with the area that Kikau entered being away from the public eye.

“That was in a remote part of the club, closed down, with curtains around the boardroom door,” Gould said.

“No one knew he was in the building.”

Kikau’s current club are flying high on top of the ladder, being the only team unbeaten, while his new club for next season are struggling with only one win under their belt.