News 'Easy to change things': Cameron Ciraldo's defensive mindset pays off with 32-0 Titans shutout

[djdeep4172]

The defensive-minded approach of Bulldogs coach Cameron Ciraldohas paid off, with the side producing a dominant 32-0 win over the Titanson Saturday afternoon.

For the first time in recent memory, Canterbury kept their opponents scoreless across 80 minutes, giving the Belmore Oval faithful a rare performance to cheer about.

The hosts opened the scoring in the 17th minute through Jacob Preston and never looked back, with the likes of Viliame Kikau and Reed Mahoney starring in the rout.

Speaking to media post-game, Ciraldo backed the growing belief within the Dogs locker room and claims there was no need for panic, despite two-straight losses to the Eels and Sharks to kick off their campaign.


"It's easy after a couple of losses to change things around and stop believing, but I feel like everyone in the building kept believing in what we were building," he said.

"We got the result, but I have been feeling that at training, we have been showing a lot of winning behaviours and it was only a matter of time before it came out.

"I've made no secret of the fact we want to build this club around defence. Our attack is going to keep evolving, but our defence is giving our attack a little breathing space.

"Keeping a team to zero is a huge achievement, it's not something that happens all the time - it's really important you make it count. We stuck to our processes until the end.

"The belief is built within the building - people are starting to believe."

Ciraldo heaped praise on hulking edge forward Kikau, claiming the Fijian international is "back to his best" and described him as a "nightmare" for opposition defences.

Canterbury operated at over 90 per cent tackle efficiency and despite giving away triple the amount of penalties, were able to withstand Gold Coast all afternoon.

"I wasn't really worried even though we lost those first two games," new captain Stephen Crichton said post-game.

"Tonight, the boys were switched on and took those opportunities and went after the game, instead of sitting back and waiting for it."

The side will look to continue their winning ways against the Rabbitohs next weekend in a traditional Good Friday fixture.

 

[djdeep4172]

Ciraldo get those doggies to beat those bunnies and roosters in the next two weeks and you’ll make us all on the kennel process believers.

 

[D- voice]

Ciraldo get those doggies to beat those bunnies and roosters in the next two weeks and you’ll make us all on the kennel process believers.

And the GF

 

[King Gus]

And the GF

Fuck yeah why not.

 

[stevesonthebay]

I'm a believer, but then I'm a long time Bulldog fan so I may be delusional lol. No but I felt it in me bones you could say compared to all the other attempts at rebuilding or buying the comp that we were on the right track. There have been glimpses of it last year.

But another pre season for most combined with a bunch of players with the same ethic and culture and we are getting there. And the key to all this was not rocket science, it was already there as we use to have it years ago. That never say die attitude of a Bulldog. We are also luck to have a coach that is a stickler for defence which fits great with Dogs of War.

But you could see that the intensity and level of training and more professional systems and pathways were just common sense stuff for any club to build a winning culture. Past efforst never had that aspect and was all about the short term and players hearts were not in it.

This is year 2 of a 5 year plan and Gus told CC not to come until this year as we were all over the place last year. But CC has done well with Gus orchestrating behind the scenes. Not sure of we make the 8 but we will be better and better because where doing all the right things.

 

[BMOC]

Ciraldo get those doggies to beat those bunnies and roosters in the next two weeks and you’ll make us all on the kennel process believers.

If he coaches the dogs to beat the rabbits this week I will get excited

 

[Scoooby]

TBH .. if we start seeing that effort week in week out, and get a few wins going, I will be happy with that, and he gets another chance to change my mind about him.!! As long as the consistency starts showing and we don’t take anymore steps backwards I will support him as our coach, but will still take a lot more convincing yet.

 

[alwaysthesun]

I don't want to be 'that guy' but I feel like our lead up plays are still a bit slow and predictable... I wouldn't mind seeing Mann starting, either that or Salmon digging deeper into the line. I'm also wondering what the deal is with Hutch taking so many tackles.. it's clearly some type of tactics but I can't figure out what the benefits are, if there are any?

 

[TwinTurbo]

I don't want to be 'that guy' but I feel like our lead up plays are still a bit slow and predictable... I wouldn't mind seeing Mann starting, either that or Salmon digging deeper into the line. I'm also wondering what the deal is with Hutch taking so many tackles.. it's clearly some type of tactics but I can't figure out what the benefits are, if there are any?

You need to look closely at where on the field he is being tackled.

I have noticed that there is some structure in how we are setting up the next play, we work the location of the play the ball to achieve the targeted attacking backline spacing. Generally it's a forward that runs to be tackled where we want the play the ball, but occasionally Hutchison has to be the runner. Burton is playing both sides for a reason.


Always a Bulldog

 

[Lost Dog]

Its been a long time coming. As Dogs fans since 2017 we have suffered. There is hope on the horizon.

 

[alwaysthesun]

You need to look closely at where on the field he is being tackled.

I have noticed that there is some structure in how we are setting up the next play, we work the location of the play the ball to achieve the targeted attacking backline spacing. Generally it's a forward that runs to be tackled where we want the play the ball, but occasionally Hutchison has to be the runner. Burton is playing both sides for a reason.


Always a Bulldog

Yeah fair. Just feels like we're doing a lot of set up and while it was effective against the Titans, I'd like to see them fire more shots at Souths.

 

[TwinTurbo]

Yeah fair. Just feels like we're doing a lot of set up and while it was effective against the Titans, I'd like to see them fire more shots at Souths.

Not every play can possibly be aimed at scoring a try. There are metre gaining plays, simply aimed at getting down the field, long kicks are metre gaining plays. There are positional plays, targeted at achieving a certain position on the field, kicks to the corners are positional plays. Of course there may be an unplanned break made, in which case we need to backing up the break (eg; Taaffe try). But most team's defence is pretty good these days, so you need to break it down over multiple plays and get to the position on the field from where you can run your plays.



Always a Bulldog

 

[D- voice]

I'm a believer, but then I'm a long time Bulldog fan so I may be delusional lol. No but I felt it in me bones you could say compared to all the other attempts at rebuilding or buying the comp that we were on the right track. There have been glimpses of it last year.
You aren't delusional, CC & Gus have a plan.
But another pre season for most combined with a bunch of players with the same ethic and culture and we are getting there. And the key to all this was not rocket science, it was already there as we use to have it years ago. That never say die attitude of a Bulldog. We are also luck to have a coach that is a stickler for defence which fits great with Dogs of War.
But you could see that the intensity and level of training and more professional systems and pathways were just common sense stuff for any club to build a winning culture. Past efforst never had that aspect and was all about the short term and players hearts were not in it.
Attitude makes or breaks a team, therefore I believe we are finally back on track, not because of one win.
This is year 2 of a 5 year plan and Gus told CC not to come until this year as we were all over the place last year. But CC has done well with Gus orchestrating behind the scenes. Not sure of we make the 8 but we will be better and better because where doing all the right things.
Gus's 5 year plan is to build the full structure of the club starting from pathways.

 

[D- voice]

The defensive-minded approach of Bulldogs coach Cameron Ciraldohas paid off, with the side producing a dominant 32-0 win over the Titanson Saturday afternoon.

For the first time in recent memory, Canterbury kept their opponents scoreless across 80 minutes, giving the Belmore Oval faithful a rare performance to cheer about.

The hosts opened the scoring in the 17th minute through Jacob Preston and never looked back, with the likes of Viliame Kikau and Reed Mahoney starring in the rout.

Speaking to media post-game, Ciraldo backed the growing belief within the Dogs locker room and claims there was no need for panic, despite two-straight losses to the Eels and Sharks to kick off their campaign.


"It's easy after a couple of losses to change things around and stop believing, but I feel like everyone in the building kept believing in what we were building," he said.

"We got the result, but I have been feeling that at training, we have been showing a lot of winning behaviours and it was only a matter of time before it came out.

"I've made no secret of the fact we want to build this club around defence. Our attack is going to keep evolving, but our defence is giving our attack a little breathing space.

"Keeping a team to zero is a huge achievement, it's not something that happens all the time - it's really important you make it count. We stuck to our processes until the end.

"The belief is built within the building - people are starting to believe."

Ciraldo heaped praise on hulking edge forward Kikau, claiming the Fijian international is "back to his best" and described him as a "nightmare" for opposition defences.

Canterbury operated at over 90 per cent tackle efficiency and despite giving away triple the amount of penalties, were able to withstand Gold Coast all afternoon.

"I wasn't really worried even though we lost those first two games," new captain Stephen Crichton said post-game.

"Tonight, the boys were switched on and took those opportunities and went after the game, instead of sitting back and waiting for it."

The side will look to continue their winning ways against the Rabbitohs next weekend in a traditional Good Friday fixture.

This is what I believe
Great things starts from the bottom,
Great attack starts with great defense,
Great defense made easy with great attack,
We are still missing on 2-3 players but we will get there !!!

 

[alwaysthesun]

Not every play can possibly be aimed at scoring a try. There are metre gaining plays, simply aimed at getting down the field, long kicks are metre gaining plays. There are positional plays, targeted at achieving a certain position on the field, kicks to the corners are positional plays. Of course there may be an unplanned break made, in which case we need to backing up the break (eg; Taaffe try). But most team's defence is pretty good these days, so you need to break it down over multiple plays and get to the position on the field from where you can run your plays.



Always a Bulldog

I guess I'm putting too much thought into the Sharks game in particular.. felt we could have thrown more at them but the boys were probably flogged by the time Sharks got ahead. That Titans game was definitely needed after facing two teams who will be aiming for top 4 while we are operating with new combinations.

 

[maroondog72]

He’s our long term coach for mine, And I say that for one reason, he stuck to his guns and continued to implement the systems he wanted regardless of what the media and the fan noise wanted. He gave the players he inherited a season to get on board and bushed those that didn’t. But what sealed the deal for me was making Critta captain because the captain delivers the standards the coach wants to the players. I have seen some pretty shit criticism of him on here but thankfully for the team and the club he’s a lot smarter than the Monday Morning Quarterback's on here.

 

[The_Chimpster]

He’s our long term coach for mine, And I say that for one reason, he stuck to his guns and continued to implement the systems he wanted regardless of what the media and the fan noise wanted. He gave the players he inherited a season to get on board and bushed those that didn’t. But what sealed the deal for me was making Critta captain because the captain delivers the standards the coach wants to the players. I have seen some pretty shit criticism of him on here but thankfully for the team and the club he’s a lot smarter than the Monday Morning Quarterback's on here.

Nah cIRaLdOpE iS sHiT aNd cLuELesS

 

[maroondog72]

Nah cIRaLdOpE iS sHiT aNd cLuELesS

As uncle Wayne said “ if you listen to the fans in the Grandstand you’ll end up joining them”.

 

[obje]

For the first time in recent memory, Canterbury kept their opponents scoreless across 80 minutes, giving the Belmore Oval faithful a rare performance to cheer about.

I looked up how rare it is cause I didn't remember it. Only 5 times in 25 years the bulldogs have held a team to 0. 2024, 2021, 2018, 2006, 2003.

So yeah pretty good work

Source: https://www.rugbyleagueproject.org/teams/canterbury-bankstown-bulldogs/results.html

 

[spaced_monkey]

I think it’s also easy to forget Ciraldo is a rookie coach. He is in development as much as some of those young guys coming through. In 2 years he’ll hopefully find his style and have a bunch of juniors come through that have bought into that


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