Bulldogs coach Cameron Ciraldo will be out of pocket several hundred dollars after his side kept the Knights scoreless on Sunday night.
The 20-0 victory was Canterbury’s first clean sheet in over 12 months and they now sit on top of the NRL ladder with the best defence in the competition.
Watch your team in the 2025 NRL Telstra Premiership. Stream every round LIVE in 4K, with no ad-breaks during play, on Kayo Sports. New to Kayo? Get your first month for just $1. Limited-time offer.
CHANCES ARE YOU’RE ABOUT TO LOSE. For Free and confidential support call 1800 858 858 or visit gamblinghelponline.org.au.
Ciraldo revealed the dominant defensive display on Sunday means he now has to shout the entire squad coffee at training this week.
“Getting a zero is always really important and that means I’ve got to pay for the coffee cart on Tuesday morning now, so a win-win for everyone I suppose,” he said.
“If I could sum up our performance I just thought it was really professional. I thought we put a lot of work into them in the first half and came out in the second half and played more our style of game.
“We’re going to look back on a lot of our attack and think we could have done it better but I’m just really happy with a lot of our defence and how it’s getting better every week.
“We’ve very happy with how we’ve started the season but there’s a long way to go, you don’t win comps in April.
“We’ve got a lot we need to work on and we’ve got a bye to do that now and the Good Friday game to look forward to.”
Knights go scoreless as Dogs keep streak | 01:15
MORE NRL NEWS
‘BLATANT’: Knights star sin-binned for tripping brain fade on Bulldogs playmaker
‘I’ll ANSWER’: Seibold responds to DCE elephant in the room amid Manly thrashing
‘BLOWN AWAY’: Storm statement as awesome foursome run riot to embarrass Manly
BIG HITS: Reynolds’ blow sours Broncos win as Tigers’ halves injury crisis deepens
Ciraldo confirmed they’ll get back stars Matt Burton and Viliame Kikau for their Good Friday clash against the Rabbitohs and said that would mean some “tough” conversations due to their “awesome” depth.
“We’ve got a number of guys in NSW Cup who are NRL players and that’s what you want and that’s how you build a successful club,” he said.
“Anytime Canterbury has been successful in the past it’s had strong NSW Cup teams and Jersey Flegg teams and that’s what we’re trying to build and we feel like we’re getting closer.
“We had a lot of guys out tonight but we really didn’t speak about it all week, we spoke about who was in and getting the job done.”
Bulldogs skipper Stephen Crichton went down in agony in the first half, clutching at his shoulder, but after a lengthy delay he was able to continue.
“He got a burner last year at some stage and he said it felt similar to that, we thought we were going to have to take him off but that just shows how tough he is,” Ciraldo said.
Crossland sent to bin for bizzare trip! | 00:29
MORE NRL NEWS
‘SOUND LIKE A WHINGER’: Benji responds to crackdown as Tigers blow lead
BIG HITS: Hammer silences critics; High shot crackdown stings Titans
‘DEADSET LOTTERY’: Flanno hints at ref frustration following Eels loss
WAYNE: Bunnies lift lid on biggest Wayne change… and unlikely redemption it sparked
Discussion about this post