Bulldogs Coach Cameron Ciraldo Issues Strong Warning to Players
Bulldogs coach Cameron Ciraldo used his post-match press conference to deliver a strong message to his players following a surprising loss against the Eels. The team’s performance was far from their usual standard, with a 75 per cent completion rate and several mistakes that cost them dearly.
Ciraldo started by acknowledging that his side was “way off our best” after finishing with six penalties and 13 errors. The Bulldogs were coming off a recent win over Penrith and were expected to dominate on Sunday, especially considering Parramatta’s injury issues and poor form.
“I’d like to think not but that’s certainly what it looked like,” he said bluntly when asked about the possibility of complacency creeping into the team.
The coach also expressed frustration with his side’s resilience when those errors and penalties compounded. He noted that while the team started well with good energy and intent, they failed to recover from any mistakes.
“I thought we started well, we started with good energy and intent. But any sort of error and penalty we had, we just showed no resilience to defend it. The scoreboard ticked over,” he said.
Ciraldo admitted that Parramatta performed exactly as expected, and deserved their victory. However, he emphasized that the Bulldogs were far from their best.
Struggles on the Ladder
Seven rounds into the season, the Bulldogs sit 10th on the ladder and have struggled to score with only the Dragons registering a worse points-for stat. This has raised concerns about the team’s consistency and ability to perform at their peak.
Ciraldo acknowledged the challenge of bridging the gap between his side’s best and worst performances. He said he might need a “psychology degree” to figure out how to achieve this consistency.
“Our best is good enough to challenge anyone. Our worst is a long way off that so we want to be consistent, we want to be playing close to our best every week but today was far from it and we need to figure out why,” he said.
Preparing for the Next Challenge
The Bulldogs will now face a short turnaround, playing the Broncos in Brisbane on Friday. If there are any excuses to not turn up there, Ciraldo isn’t using them and warned that if the same issues occur again, it will spell problems.
“Who cares how long the turnaround is,” he said.
“If we turn up with the right mindset, we’ll give ourselves a chance. If we turn up with that crap, we’ll get what we deserve.”
