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Eamonn Tiernan from Fox Sports@eamonn_tiernan
September 1st, 2023 6:41 am
There’s no way to sugarcoat it, the Bulldogs’ season has been an unmitigated disaster.
Rookie coach Cameron Ciraldo was supposed to be the saviour.
Kangaroos star Matt Burton and teen sensation Karl Oloapu were supposed to be the next big halves pairing.
Gun recruits Reed Mahoney, Josh Addo-Carr and Viliame Kikau were supposed to transform their attack.
Tevita Pangai Jr was supposed to fulfil his potential and lead the pack, but he’s leaving with a year left on his contract.
At least one teammate has followed TPJ out the door following a training punishment which could land Canterbury in court.
There’s infighting at the club and things have gotten so bad that premiership winner Braith Anasta believes there is “a mole” in the playing group leaking information to the media.
To say it just hasn’t happened for Dogs in 2023 would be putting it mildly.
But former captain James Graham - who played in the 2012 and 2014 grand finals for the Bulldogs - has called for calm.
“Cameron Ciraldo came on a five-year deal, there was hype and expectation and instant change expected and that was probably a little bit unrealistic,” Graham told foxsports.com.au.
“There is a reason why the club has a five-year plan because Cameron, Gus and the board realised it was going to take time to fix this and have the Bulldogs competing week to week.
“I think this season they’ve shown what they can do in patches… it had been over a decade since they’d won down in Melbourne.
“The injury gods have not been kind, but the club won’t look for excuses and nobody at the club will be denying they could have done better this season, we all know that.”
Canterbury’s only consistent performers have been Jacob Preston and Jake Averillo - and the latter is off to the Dolphins next season.
A whopping 39 players have left the Bulldogs since Phil Gould became general manager halfway through 2021 - and more will be released during end-of-season reviews next week.
The players have either been sacked, tapped, retired or chose to leave, with Gould on a mission to transform the club back into contenders.
By the numbers, the Bulldogs have gone backwards in 2023 as they’ll finish 15th on the ladder - three spots lower than last season - with the worst defence in the competition.
It’s worth noting, however, that Gould was widely ridiculed for his infamous declaration in 2011 that the Panthers would win a premiership within five years.
It took a little longer but the Panthers are now the benchmark of the NRL and on the cusp of becoming the first club in 40 years to win three straight titles.
If you offered Canterbury supporters back-to-back premierships in a decade’s time, most would probably take your arm off.
But it’s the hope that gets you.
“There’s quality in the side, they’ll get out of the bottom four if those big-name signings can play to expectations,” Matty Johns said.
“What’s happened a little bit this year is some of those key players like Matty Burton and Reed Mahoney, they’ve allowed themselves to drop backwards.
“Next year Stephen Crichton arrives at the club, when the Bulldogs sign big-name players, those guys are there to drag everybody up.
“If they can play to their potential then who knows.”
Here foxsports.com.au breaks down the good, the bad and the ugly from the Bulldogs’ 2023 season - and how they’re looking for 2024.
THE GOOD
Unfortunately for Dogs supporters, there’s not much to report here.
The biggest positive is the revelation of young gun Jacob Preston, who is in the conversation to win Dally M rookie of the year.
The bustling backrower has been sensational in his first NRL season and has scored six tries, including a pair of doubles.
“Jacob Preston has been absolutely sensational, he’s been a real find from the Bulldogs and his consistency for a young man has been pretty remarkable,” Graham said.
The Bulldogs paid an unprecedented $500,000 transfer fee to the Broncos for Oloapu but the five-eighth has played just seven NRL games this season.
“Karl has come to the Bulldogs with a big reputation but like any young footballer he has a lot to work on,” Graham said.
“But having that experience in there, he’s had a taste of first grade and what it’s about now and he’ll be better for the run.”
In another positive, the Bulldogs have cash to splash in the wake of Pangai Jr walking away from his $750,000 contract for next season.
The player market is dry and Anasta said the club will need to get creative to recruit some fresh talent.
“They need to almost go out and steal a player, they need to go behind closed doors and get a player out of a contract,” Anasta said.
“Or whoever is off contract next who is a powerhouse forward, they need to get… It is an emergency.”
Graham believes they’ll go after middle forwards in the wake of Pangai Jr leaving.
“The market is always a strange one this time of year and the next couple of months brings change,” he said.
“Pangai Jr frees up some dollars so now the club has plenty in reserve to go after someone.”
THE BAD
Ciraldo was the Panthers’ attack coach before joining the Bulldogs, but he’s struggled to replicate anything close to what the two-time reigning premiers produce.
Canterbury have the second-worst attack in the competition, only behind the Wests Tigers, and are scoring just 17.7 points per game.
That is an improvement on last season’s 15.9 points per game, but plenty of people were expecting plenty more on the back of their recruitment drive.
Kikau has been restricted to just eight games due to a pectoral tear, while fellow recruits Mahoney and Addo-Carr have found it difficult without star teammates around them.
Penrith gun Crichton will have been watching the Bulldogs’ car crash of a season from afar and undoubtedly be wondering if he’s made a mistake joining club next year.
Five-eighth Burton, in his second season since joining from the Panthers where he won 2021 Dally M Centre of the Year, has struggled to take control in the halves.
“Matt Burton is a quality footballer, I know that. He could play either position,” Graham said.
“But the more Matt Burton receives the football, the more likely the Bulldogs are to win, and you don’t need me to tell you that’s in the halves.”
THE UGLY
Strap in.
The Bulldogs’ defence has been nothing short of atrocious this season and it’s been linked with trust issues within the playing group amid speculation there’s a rat in the ranks.
Defence - as they say - is an attitude after all, and the attitude of several players has been called into question this season.
Complaints from players around workloads have been leaked to the media, while Pangai Jr’s departure was in the press before some club officials even knew about it.
“It’s not just a leak here, it’s someone trying to bring down (the club) from within the group, to destabilise them. There’s a mole in the camp,” Anasta said.
“The whole standards with the Bulldogs and what Ciraldo is trying to bring to this club, there’s players there just not doing the jersey any justice and players cutting corners and players that shouldn’t be there.”
Ciraldo was forced to answer questions this week about the club’s recruitment and retention suffering due to his coaching methods.
Several players want out of the club and have warned others about joining because of Ciraldo’s alleged gruelling regime.
Ciraldo conceded some players aren’t happy with his approach to training, but the rookie coach refused to apologise for demanding excellence.
“It’s the NRL, nothing comes without hard work. It is what this club is built on and work ethic and that’s what drew me to this club and what we are trying to instil back into this place,” Ciraldo said.
“We’ve been losing. The culture isn’t exactly right. The system is only one part of the result from the weekend. The main part of the result is the culture and that’s something we’ve worked really on.
“We’ve probably uncovered a lot more to that culture and reasons for where we are where we are and we’ll continue to work hard at that.
“We are trying to drive standards. We want to have winning performance standards and a lot of that is around individual responsibilities.
“The reality is, we need to change behaviours here and I think we’ve done a good job of that throughout the season and we’ll continue to find ways.
“I’m glad I’m here. I’m glad this isn’t happening in 12 months time. We need to go through this right now to know who is going to come on the journey moving forward and I’m glad we are doing it now.
“We need to continue with the process we are on and that’s holding winning standards. That didn’t happen overnight (at Penrith), it was a hard process but over there but the players bought in, they trusted in the process and got good rewards for it.”
Gould said he was glad Ciraldo’s standards are now public knowledge “because at times when you watch us play you would wonder whether or not we did (work hard).”
“Every group goes through times where your standards are challenged and ours are being challenged at certain times but yeah, we are trying to create winning standards here,” Gould said.
Bulldogs icon Wilie Mason came off the back fence and told the whinging players in no uncertain terms what he thinks of their complaining.
“It’s f**king soft as s**t,” Mason said.
“If you can’t deal with it, you’re not going to be f**king there. Because there’s high standards at the club, regardless of what’s happening right now with where we’re coming on the ladder.
“But there’s no excuses and you’ll get weeded out of the club and that’s what Ciro wants to do.
“These guys have had a losing mentality there for like five years so it’s a cultural thing, the winning and losing.
“The guys that we want there, they will be there. Players that are coming in, they’ll bring a winning culture as well.
“It’s going to take a minute but it’s the way it is, you’ve got to tough it out. It’s just the way it is and we’re all in this together.”
NRL legend Gorden Tallis went as far as to say the players’ revolt against Ciraldo meant he wasn’t training them hard enough.
“The coaches have to get the power back… the game has gone soft mentally. If the coach trains them hard, you hear the whispers that he’s training them too hard. Well, obviously he isn’t training them hard enough,” Tallis said.
“We need to coaches to get more power back and when a player starts whinging, I would love us to out that guy so the next club knows what they are going to get.
“Talent takes you so far… they bought all this talent and they’re whinging about training. It’s a proud club and they just need to work harder.”
THE FUTURE
Is there hope for the Dogs? Well, yes, but mostly because the only way is up.
Oloapu is still only 18 and with the exception of maybe Nathan Cleary, nobody controls NRL games in the halves as a teenager.
Preston is future club captain, while mid-season recruits Toby Sexton and Liam Knight will be joined at the club by Crichton, Bronson Xerri, Blake Taaffe and Jaeman Salmon in 2024.
Graham emphasised how long the Panthers had to wait to reap the rewards of their rebuild, and he backed Gould to put the same system in place at Belmore.
“The word that everybody dislikes in clubland is patience because the Bulldogs fans have suffered for far too long now,” Graham said.
“But speaking to people at the club, they want to set the club up so they’re never in a position like this again.
“They could have gone for the quick fix but they’ve elected not to do that for the betterment of the football club as a whole which I think is very commendable.”
Graham believes if Canterbury can get the rub of the green next year then they could push for a top-eight berth.
“I think there’s a lot of positive signs there and plenty of reasons to get excited for 2024,” he said.
“Again, Ciraldo signed a five-year deal, not a three-year deal like what usually gets given and in the first year they get a pass no matter what then the pressure comes in year two.
“I know everybody at that club has high expectations and if some of the uncontrollables can be more favourable, then I think we’ll see a more competitive and consistent Bulldogs team.”
Anasta has often called for the side to start playing ‘the Bulldogs way’ again, but Graham said the current side must “forge their own identity”.
“There’s no point in trying to replicate what’s been and there’s no cookie-cutter approach,” Graham said.
“Different Bulldogs eras have been successful for different reasons, so this team needs to have their own identity and connect to the community in their own way.
“There’s some stuff from the past that could provide the ingredients for a successful recipe, but ultimately this team needs to forge their own identity.”
September 1st, 2023 6:41 am
There’s no way to sugarcoat it, the Bulldogs’ season has been an unmitigated disaster.
Rookie coach Cameron Ciraldo was supposed to be the saviour.
Kangaroos star Matt Burton and teen sensation Karl Oloapu were supposed to be the next big halves pairing.
Gun recruits Reed Mahoney, Josh Addo-Carr and Viliame Kikau were supposed to transform their attack.
Tevita Pangai Jr was supposed to fulfil his potential and lead the pack, but he’s leaving with a year left on his contract.
At least one teammate has followed TPJ out the door following a training punishment which could land Canterbury in court.
There’s infighting at the club and things have gotten so bad that premiership winner Braith Anasta believes there is “a mole” in the playing group leaking information to the media.
To say it just hasn’t happened for Dogs in 2023 would be putting it mildly.
But former captain James Graham - who played in the 2012 and 2014 grand finals for the Bulldogs - has called for calm.
“Cameron Ciraldo came on a five-year deal, there was hype and expectation and instant change expected and that was probably a little bit unrealistic,” Graham told foxsports.com.au.
“There is a reason why the club has a five-year plan because Cameron, Gus and the board realised it was going to take time to fix this and have the Bulldogs competing week to week.
“I think this season they’ve shown what they can do in patches… it had been over a decade since they’d won down in Melbourne.
“The injury gods have not been kind, but the club won’t look for excuses and nobody at the club will be denying they could have done better this season, we all know that.”
Canterbury’s only consistent performers have been Jacob Preston and Jake Averillo - and the latter is off to the Dolphins next season.
A whopping 39 players have left the Bulldogs since Phil Gould became general manager halfway through 2021 - and more will be released during end-of-season reviews next week.
The players have either been sacked, tapped, retired or chose to leave, with Gould on a mission to transform the club back into contenders.
By the numbers, the Bulldogs have gone backwards in 2023 as they’ll finish 15th on the ladder - three spots lower than last season - with the worst defence in the competition.
It’s worth noting, however, that Gould was widely ridiculed for his infamous declaration in 2011 that the Panthers would win a premiership within five years.
It took a little longer but the Panthers are now the benchmark of the NRL and on the cusp of becoming the first club in 40 years to win three straight titles.
If you offered Canterbury supporters back-to-back premierships in a decade’s time, most would probably take your arm off.
But it’s the hope that gets you.
“There’s quality in the side, they’ll get out of the bottom four if those big-name signings can play to expectations,” Matty Johns said.
“What’s happened a little bit this year is some of those key players like Matty Burton and Reed Mahoney, they’ve allowed themselves to drop backwards.
“Next year Stephen Crichton arrives at the club, when the Bulldogs sign big-name players, those guys are there to drag everybody up.
“If they can play to their potential then who knows.”
Here foxsports.com.au breaks down the good, the bad and the ugly from the Bulldogs’ 2023 season - and how they’re looking for 2024.
THE GOOD
Unfortunately for Dogs supporters, there’s not much to report here.
The biggest positive is the revelation of young gun Jacob Preston, who is in the conversation to win Dally M rookie of the year.
The bustling backrower has been sensational in his first NRL season and has scored six tries, including a pair of doubles.
“Jacob Preston has been absolutely sensational, he’s been a real find from the Bulldogs and his consistency for a young man has been pretty remarkable,” Graham said.
The Bulldogs paid an unprecedented $500,000 transfer fee to the Broncos for Oloapu but the five-eighth has played just seven NRL games this season.
“Karl has come to the Bulldogs with a big reputation but like any young footballer he has a lot to work on,” Graham said.
“But having that experience in there, he’s had a taste of first grade and what it’s about now and he’ll be better for the run.”
In another positive, the Bulldogs have cash to splash in the wake of Pangai Jr walking away from his $750,000 contract for next season.
The player market is dry and Anasta said the club will need to get creative to recruit some fresh talent.
“They need to almost go out and steal a player, they need to go behind closed doors and get a player out of a contract,” Anasta said.
“Or whoever is off contract next who is a powerhouse forward, they need to get… It is an emergency.”
Graham believes they’ll go after middle forwards in the wake of Pangai Jr leaving.
“The market is always a strange one this time of year and the next couple of months brings change,” he said.
“Pangai Jr frees up some dollars so now the club has plenty in reserve to go after someone.”
THE BAD
Ciraldo was the Panthers’ attack coach before joining the Bulldogs, but he’s struggled to replicate anything close to what the two-time reigning premiers produce.
Canterbury have the second-worst attack in the competition, only behind the Wests Tigers, and are scoring just 17.7 points per game.
That is an improvement on last season’s 15.9 points per game, but plenty of people were expecting plenty more on the back of their recruitment drive.
Kikau has been restricted to just eight games due to a pectoral tear, while fellow recruits Mahoney and Addo-Carr have found it difficult without star teammates around them.
Penrith gun Crichton will have been watching the Bulldogs’ car crash of a season from afar and undoubtedly be wondering if he’s made a mistake joining club next year.
Five-eighth Burton, in his second season since joining from the Panthers where he won 2021 Dally M Centre of the Year, has struggled to take control in the halves.
“Matt Burton is a quality footballer, I know that. He could play either position,” Graham said.
“But the more Matt Burton receives the football, the more likely the Bulldogs are to win, and you don’t need me to tell you that’s in the halves.”
THE UGLY
Strap in.
The Bulldogs’ defence has been nothing short of atrocious this season and it’s been linked with trust issues within the playing group amid speculation there’s a rat in the ranks.
Defence - as they say - is an attitude after all, and the attitude of several players has been called into question this season.
Complaints from players around workloads have been leaked to the media, while Pangai Jr’s departure was in the press before some club officials even knew about it.
“It’s not just a leak here, it’s someone trying to bring down (the club) from within the group, to destabilise them. There’s a mole in the camp,” Anasta said.
“The whole standards with the Bulldogs and what Ciraldo is trying to bring to this club, there’s players there just not doing the jersey any justice and players cutting corners and players that shouldn’t be there.”
Ciraldo was forced to answer questions this week about the club’s recruitment and retention suffering due to his coaching methods.
Several players want out of the club and have warned others about joining because of Ciraldo’s alleged gruelling regime.
Ciraldo conceded some players aren’t happy with his approach to training, but the rookie coach refused to apologise for demanding excellence.
“It’s the NRL, nothing comes without hard work. It is what this club is built on and work ethic and that’s what drew me to this club and what we are trying to instil back into this place,” Ciraldo said.
“We’ve been losing. The culture isn’t exactly right. The system is only one part of the result from the weekend. The main part of the result is the culture and that’s something we’ve worked really on.
“We’ve probably uncovered a lot more to that culture and reasons for where we are where we are and we’ll continue to work hard at that.
“We are trying to drive standards. We want to have winning performance standards and a lot of that is around individual responsibilities.
“The reality is, we need to change behaviours here and I think we’ve done a good job of that throughout the season and we’ll continue to find ways.
“I’m glad I’m here. I’m glad this isn’t happening in 12 months time. We need to go through this right now to know who is going to come on the journey moving forward and I’m glad we are doing it now.
“We need to continue with the process we are on and that’s holding winning standards. That didn’t happen overnight (at Penrith), it was a hard process but over there but the players bought in, they trusted in the process and got good rewards for it.”
Gould said he was glad Ciraldo’s standards are now public knowledge “because at times when you watch us play you would wonder whether or not we did (work hard).”
“Every group goes through times where your standards are challenged and ours are being challenged at certain times but yeah, we are trying to create winning standards here,” Gould said.
Bulldogs icon Wilie Mason came off the back fence and told the whinging players in no uncertain terms what he thinks of their complaining.
“It’s f**king soft as s**t,” Mason said.
“If you can’t deal with it, you’re not going to be f**king there. Because there’s high standards at the club, regardless of what’s happening right now with where we’re coming on the ladder.
“But there’s no excuses and you’ll get weeded out of the club and that’s what Ciro wants to do.
“These guys have had a losing mentality there for like five years so it’s a cultural thing, the winning and losing.
“The guys that we want there, they will be there. Players that are coming in, they’ll bring a winning culture as well.
“It’s going to take a minute but it’s the way it is, you’ve got to tough it out. It’s just the way it is and we’re all in this together.”
NRL legend Gorden Tallis went as far as to say the players’ revolt against Ciraldo meant he wasn’t training them hard enough.
“The coaches have to get the power back… the game has gone soft mentally. If the coach trains them hard, you hear the whispers that he’s training them too hard. Well, obviously he isn’t training them hard enough,” Tallis said.
“We need to coaches to get more power back and when a player starts whinging, I would love us to out that guy so the next club knows what they are going to get.
“Talent takes you so far… they bought all this talent and they’re whinging about training. It’s a proud club and they just need to work harder.”
THE FUTURE
Is there hope for the Dogs? Well, yes, but mostly because the only way is up.
Oloapu is still only 18 and with the exception of maybe Nathan Cleary, nobody controls NRL games in the halves as a teenager.
Preston is future club captain, while mid-season recruits Toby Sexton and Liam Knight will be joined at the club by Crichton, Bronson Xerri, Blake Taaffe and Jaeman Salmon in 2024.
Graham emphasised how long the Panthers had to wait to reap the rewards of their rebuild, and he backed Gould to put the same system in place at Belmore.
“The word that everybody dislikes in clubland is patience because the Bulldogs fans have suffered for far too long now,” Graham said.
“But speaking to people at the club, they want to set the club up so they’re never in a position like this again.
“They could have gone for the quick fix but they’ve elected not to do that for the betterment of the football club as a whole which I think is very commendable.”
Graham believes if Canterbury can get the rub of the green next year then they could push for a top-eight berth.
“I think there’s a lot of positive signs there and plenty of reasons to get excited for 2024,” he said.
“Again, Ciraldo signed a five-year deal, not a three-year deal like what usually gets given and in the first year they get a pass no matter what then the pressure comes in year two.
“I know everybody at that club has high expectations and if some of the uncontrollables can be more favourable, then I think we’ll see a more competitive and consistent Bulldogs team.”
Anasta has often called for the side to start playing ‘the Bulldogs way’ again, but Graham said the current side must “forge their own identity”.
“There’s no point in trying to replicate what’s been and there’s no cookie-cutter approach,” Graham said.
“Different Bulldogs eras have been successful for different reasons, so this team needs to have their own identity and connect to the community in their own way.
“There’s some stuff from the past that could provide the ingredients for a successful recipe, but ultimately this team needs to forge their own identity.”
