Less than 18 months ago, Jacob Kiraz was still earning $1000 a year on a train-and-trial deal at the Bulldogs, the club that twice knocked him back as a junior.
Now Kiraz is top of the Dally M Medal voting, from the wing, and Cameron Ciraldo plans to build his Belmore foundations around him.
“Jacob is a winner – he will fight to win anything,” Ciraldo said following Canterbury’s 26-12 upset of Melbourne two weeks ago.
“He’s what we want to build the Bulldogs on, someone like that.
“I’m really happy with the way Jacob played, but I’m not surprised by it. That’s the way he trains every day, it’s the way he prepares, and it’s why he hates losing.
“If we can get everyone having that mentality then we are going to be a hard team to beat.”
Kiraz scored two tries that night, broke 10 tackles and powered through 235 running metres from 24 carries.
He added another 283 metres from 25 runs in
Sunday’s win over the Tigers, in front of friends, family and his own little blue and white fiefdom as “King Kiraz″, so crowned by the Belmore faithful.
“I didn’t know he said that – jeez that’s not bad from the coach is it?” Kiraz said when Ciraldo’s high praise was put to him by the Herald.
“Every game I play, I go out there to win. I play with all my heart, it’s pretty simple.
“I love this club and Cam’s been massive for me, he’s helped with my development so much since coming here. He’s given us all the tools to go out and win for this club.”
Kiraz’s road back to Belmore has been trotted out a couple of times now, and will be a few more times as an all too rare Bulldogs junior made good.
Eleven Dally M points in the NRL’s new 3-2-1 format – awarded by two judges each game this season – have him two points clear of Origin stars Payne Haas and Tino Fa’asuamaleaui.
After a hat-trick against Newcastle last year, the Knights were criticised for letting him leave to take up that train-and-trial deal at Canterbury.
Kiraz has previously been miffed by twice missing out on the Bulldogs’ Harold Matthews and SG Ball squads, coming through the Dragons ranks instead before stints in Townsville and Newcastle.
Now he’s back home, in the same childhood bedroom that was adorned with Bulldogs posters growing up, with Phil Gould planning to extend Kiraz’s deal until the end of 2024 as well.
These days, the 21-year-old with five Test caps for Lebanon is more philosophical about the rise in Canterbury colours that took a while coming, too.
“When I was younger I didn’t get picked for Harold Matts or anything like that,” Kiraz said.
“As a kid, you get heartbroken, but I just kept going. I don’t know if there were doubts – I always knew I had the ability, I just needed the opportunity. I just worked my arse off.
“So now you see me back at my junior club, it means the world to me.
“My mum and dad, when I left home as a young kid, it’s not really common in our culture to leave home.
“It means the world to my brothers, my sisters, all my cousins are all Bulldogs fans. I’ve moved back into my old bedroom and I won’t be moving now until I’m married.”
