Dogs at war: Players need to take the fight to opposition, not each other!
The Sydney Morning Herald
✍ Adrian Proszenko
When Cameron Ciraldo first arrived at Belmore, he would make his players carry a television set onto the field before training sessions.
It wasn’t one of those new-fangled, flat-screen models either; this was a relic of the past, a vintage model that wouldn’t have been out of place in a museum. An old-school telly, inscribed with old-school values.
“It’s like this 1950s old TV with a big box on the back,” a Canterbury player said. “It’s got the terms and conditions of being a part of this group on it. It’s about not complaining about long days, making sure everyone is working hard and that setbacks and sacrifices are part of the journey, to embrace them and help each other out through them.”
As a disastrous season draws to a close, the first with Ciraldo in charge, it’s clear his players aren’t all on the same channel. During the week, Bulldogs supremo Phil Gould labelled the blue and whites “the worst team in the competition right now”.
It is difficult to argue. A club bolstered by the arrival of Reed Mahoney, Viliame Kikau, Ryan Sutton and the game’s hottest young coach has gone backwards. As an assistant at the Panthers, Ciraldo built a wall that was seldom breached. Now he’s overseeing one of the worst defences of all time.
The Bulldogs have already leaked 735 points, currently the 19th poorest record in the NRL era. It will likely get worse. If they concede the 35 points they have been averaging this season against the Titans on Sunday, they will finish as the 12th worst on the list.
Ciraldo’s approach to fixing the issue has come under the spotlight. When a player turned up late to training six weeks ago, he was made to wrestle every member of the squad. Whether it was an appropriate punishment or a hazing ritual gone wrong depends on who you speak to.
Some teammates felt the tardy player was “soft”. Others were reluctant to participate in what they felt was an unnecessary pile-on. The incident has reportedly left the player broken and has the potential to further splinter the group.
It has raised questions over whether Ciraldo is driving his charges too hard, only a week after South Sydney were accused of handling their superstars with kid gloves.
When you give the players and outsiders a say in how hard or tough sessions should be you have lost the plot as they will always take the easy option, or most will anyway,” said Steve Nance, a strength and conditioning coach who has spent three decades overseeing numerous NRL teams, as well as the 1999 World Cup-winning Wallabies.
The Bulldogs train at Belmore during the week. KATE GERAGHTY
One can only wonder what the club’s former hard-nosed trainer, Billy Johnstone, would make of it all.
The “family club” is at yet another crossroads. When Canterbury won its last premiership, way back in 2004, the mantra was: “Train hard. Play hard. Party hard.”
At least two of those elements are missing from the current squad. When Sonny Bill Williams addressed the players prior to their first game of the season, marking the first time he returned to Belmore since his acrimonious departure, his message was simple.
“To get greatness like we did in 2004, we were all aligned in our thinking, that it was all or nothing,” Williams told the current group. “This was the cause and we dedicated ourselves wholeheartedly to it.”
The class of 2023 hasn’t embraced that ethos. The form of the senior stars, those tasked with setting the standards, has deteriorated as the season has progressed. Mahoney, Kikau, Matt Burton and Josh Addo-Carr aren’t playing up to their pay cheques, while the enigmatic Tevita Pangai Junior is now searching for consistency in the boxing ring.
Also gone is the one man who epitomises the Canterbury culture like no other. Josh Reynolds made a career out of pushing his body to the limit, but it finally failed him. Ciraldo handed the former NSW playmaker a lifeline in the hope his infectious enthusiasm would rub off on his peers, but he wasn’t able to last the season.
Yet the club’s biggest failing has been an inability to sign or develop a halfback. The Bulldogs pulled out of the race to sign Mitchell Moses, made clandestine overtures to Cameron Munster, went cold on Jayden Sullivan and continue to flirt with Ben Hunt. They paid a $500,000 transfer fee to poach Karl Oloapu from Brisbane in the belief he would be their long-term No.7, only to discover he is a back-rower.
At one point, the major sponsor was considering trying to throw in a pub as a sweetener for a prospective playmaker. Eventually, the blue and whites settled for Toby Sexton. The former Titan has done a serviceable job, but it feels like yet another stop-gap solution.
All the while, other players are bought and traded while the underlying issues remain. Some of the purchases, most notably Bronson Xerri, are speculative. The only genuine superstar joining next year is Stephen Crichton. Whether he can carry his form from a strong club to a struggling one, while making the transition to fullback, remains to be seen.
The patience of Canterbury fans can only extend for so long. It took only 116 signatures from card-carrying members to overthrow the last board. The fate of the current one will be decided at the ballot box in February.
It’s cut-throat if you’re the coach as well. In May of last year, Gould boldly declared “Trent Barrett will be the coach of the Bulldogs long after I’m gone.” A fortnight later, Barrett was out the door. Ciraldo will need to comfort himself with whatever security a five-year contract can offer.
