Rugby league commentator Phil Gould said he feared for Matthew Johns' personal well-being after speaking to his former Channel Nine colleague earlier in the week.

Johns, who was stood down indefinitely from Channel Nine after admitting involvement in a group sex scandal in New Zealand seven years ago, had gone with his family to Western Australia to escape attention following a program detailing the incident on the ABC.

Gould said on Channel Nine's Footy Show that he was concerned about his mental state after speaking to him "a number times, at all times of the night of day."

"By Wednesday I was really worried about him," Gould said.

"I got some calls from him that gave me great concern for him and his safety and I urged him to come home.

"When he arrived yesterday here with his wife I have never seen two more shattered people."

Gould said the incident should be the final sledgehammer which wakes up people involved with the game after a series of alcohol-fuelled player incidents and their mistreatment of women in recent years.

"Our players have got to understand it doesn't matter if you think you are in the right," he said.

"It doesn't matter if you think you have the green light, if it is perceived that it is OK to go across with this stuff it's going to end in dramas - somewhere sometime it will come back to bite you on the arse and we're all going to pay the penalty for it."

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