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Canterbury premiership winner Braith Anasta believes the Bulldogs have pulled off their best recruitment drive in 20 years.
But now it’s time to fit the squad under the salary cap and Anasta has detailed some moves the club could make to help ease the financial pressure it faces.
The Dogs won the wooden spoon this year but they’re expected to contest finals next season and potentially push for a drought-breaking title in 2023 on the back of a boom recruiting drive.
Coach Trent Barrett arrived at the end of 2020, after helping guide Penrith to the grand final as an assistant, and he’s been on a spending spree ever since.
Barrett has signed playmaker and 2021 Dally M team of the year representative Matt Burton, star forward Tevita Pangai Jr and Brent Naden - all from the Panthers.
It didn’t stop there, with Storm superstar Josh Addo-Carr also joining plus Dragons duo Paul Vaughan and Matt Dufty also joining this off-season.
Things will get even better for the Bulldogs in 2023, with Eels star hooker Reed Mahoney and Panthers forward Viliame Kikau joining the club.
“They’re building incredibly,” Anasta told foxsports.com.au.
“It’s been hard to watch the Dogs for a long time now and I talk to a lot of the other ex players, we’re all good mates, it’s been very hard to watch.
“They’ve bought in all the right areas, you can be full of cash and have all the money in the world but if you don’t spend it wisely, it’s just a waste and I think clubs have been guilty of that over time and the Dogs maybe themselves have been guilty of that over time.”
Rugby league mastermind Phil Gould returned to Canterbury, where he played and coached in the 1980s, earlier this year as the club’s general manager.
Anasta echoed the praise Gould has been receiving for his immediate impact on the struggling club.
“Gus has had a big influence,” Anasta said.
“The key areas they’re buying in, in terms of damaging forwards in Kikau and Vaughan, big powerful guys who have got fast feet and can offload, that’s really what you need with the speed of the game these days, rush speed is everything.
“Then when you’ve got rush speed what do you do with it? They’ve needed a quality No. 9 and they’ve got Mahoney, they needed halves and they’ve got Burton.
“They’ve done amazingly well with their recruitment, I don’t think I’ve seen much better in the last 10 or 20 years.
“They’ve really bought in key positions that they desperately needed and how could it not be promising with the guys they’ve bought.”
The Bulldogs will have to move on several players to ensure they stay under the salary cap next year, as they threw big money at Pangai Jr ($750,000) and Addo-Carr ($500,000).
Premiership-winning forward John Asiata parting ways with the Dogs last week over his vaccine refusal will free up some space.
Additionally, Adam Elliott’s abrupt departure in September freed up more than $400,000 for 2022.
Canterbury flyer Nick Cotric ($650,000) has been linked with a move back to Canberra, while the club is also open to moving on Luke Thompson ($800,000), Corey Allan ($500,000) and Kyle Flanagan ($450,000).
Kikau ($800,000) and Mahoney ($600,000) will also need to fit into the 2023 cap, with their arrivals set to trigger more movement at the end of next season.
“That’s part of footy,” Anasta said.
“Often in these situations you don’t know if it’s the player or the club who’s making the moves.
“But you would think in the (Cotric) situation, Nick had more success individually in Canberra so maybe he feels better there and wants to go back.
“They need to free money up somewhere because they’ve bought a hell of a lot of good players in a short period of time.
“I don’t think their bank would be looking too good at the money.”
Cotric has also been linked to the Wests Tigers and Eels, while Thompson was offered to the Storm last month.
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But now it’s time to fit the squad under the salary cap and Anasta has detailed some moves the club could make to help ease the financial pressure it faces.
The Dogs won the wooden spoon this year but they’re expected to contest finals next season and potentially push for a drought-breaking title in 2023 on the back of a boom recruiting drive.
Coach Trent Barrett arrived at the end of 2020, after helping guide Penrith to the grand final as an assistant, and he’s been on a spending spree ever since.
Barrett has signed playmaker and 2021 Dally M team of the year representative Matt Burton, star forward Tevita Pangai Jr and Brent Naden - all from the Panthers.
It didn’t stop there, with Storm superstar Josh Addo-Carr also joining plus Dragons duo Paul Vaughan and Matt Dufty also joining this off-season.
Things will get even better for the Bulldogs in 2023, with Eels star hooker Reed Mahoney and Panthers forward Viliame Kikau joining the club.
“They’re building incredibly,” Anasta told foxsports.com.au.
“It’s been hard to watch the Dogs for a long time now and I talk to a lot of the other ex players, we’re all good mates, it’s been very hard to watch.
“They’ve bought in all the right areas, you can be full of cash and have all the money in the world but if you don’t spend it wisely, it’s just a waste and I think clubs have been guilty of that over time and the Dogs maybe themselves have been guilty of that over time.”
Rugby league mastermind Phil Gould returned to Canterbury, where he played and coached in the 1980s, earlier this year as the club’s general manager.
Anasta echoed the praise Gould has been receiving for his immediate impact on the struggling club.
“Gus has had a big influence,” Anasta said.
“The key areas they’re buying in, in terms of damaging forwards in Kikau and Vaughan, big powerful guys who have got fast feet and can offload, that’s really what you need with the speed of the game these days, rush speed is everything.
“Then when you’ve got rush speed what do you do with it? They’ve needed a quality No. 9 and they’ve got Mahoney, they needed halves and they’ve got Burton.
“They’ve done amazingly well with their recruitment, I don’t think I’ve seen much better in the last 10 or 20 years.
“They’ve really bought in key positions that they desperately needed and how could it not be promising with the guys they’ve bought.”
The Bulldogs will have to move on several players to ensure they stay under the salary cap next year, as they threw big money at Pangai Jr ($750,000) and Addo-Carr ($500,000).
Premiership-winning forward John Asiata parting ways with the Dogs last week over his vaccine refusal will free up some space.
Additionally, Adam Elliott’s abrupt departure in September freed up more than $400,000 for 2022.
Canterbury flyer Nick Cotric ($650,000) has been linked with a move back to Canberra, while the club is also open to moving on Luke Thompson ($800,000), Corey Allan ($500,000) and Kyle Flanagan ($450,000).
Kikau ($800,000) and Mahoney ($600,000) will also need to fit into the 2023 cap, with their arrivals set to trigger more movement at the end of next season.
“That’s part of footy,” Anasta said.
“Often in these situations you don’t know if it’s the player or the club who’s making the moves.
“But you would think in the (Cotric) situation, Nick had more success individually in Canberra so maybe he feels better there and wants to go back.
“They need to free money up somewhere because they’ve bought a hell of a lot of good players in a short period of time.
“I don’t think their bank would be looking too good at the money.”
Cotric has also been linked to the Wests Tigers and Eels, while Thompson was offered to the Storm last month.
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