Bulldogs coach Cameron Cirlado has insisted it won’t take “rocket science” to fix his side following their second consecutive heavy defeat in Round 27.
Needing a win to secure fifth place and guarantee a home finals, Canterbury were heavily beaten by the Cowboys 44-6, marking the lowest point of their otherwise impressive season on the eve of their first finals series since 2016.
However, the Bulldogs coach remained somewhat positive in his post-match press conference, stating the issues his side have shown in the last fortnight won’t require mass structural changes to recitfy.
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“The last three weeks the first 20 or 30 minutes we’ve given up 60 or 70% possession. It’s well documented we’re not as big as some of those teams. If you want to give bigger teams that amount of possession you’re going to put yourself under pressure,” he said post-game.
“We’ve done a really good job of that all year, just staying in the fight and going toe to toe and getting equal amounts of possession and earning field position through that.
“We haven’t done it (in) the last two weeks.
“It’s not rocket science. Just get those (things) right, we’ll give ourselves a chance in the fight.”
Despite the Bulldogs not featuring in the finals since 2016 and boasting a young squad full of inexperienced stars, Ciraldo can call upon several highly experienced winners in captain Stephen Crichton, Matt Burton, Josh Addo-Carr, Viliame Kikau and Reed Mahoney.
Burton and Addo-Carr were two of the five Dogs stars missing from tonight’s clash, with Jeral Skelton, Kurt Mann and Bronson Xerri all sidelined.
However, Ciraldo insisted the players he’s missing “weren’t going to fix those problems.”
“They’ll help us a little bit and give us a little bit more strike in attack, we were a little bit clunky in attack tonight and that put pressure on our defence tonight,” he said.
“We have to get the possession right, we have to do better winning the field position.”
The heavy defeat to the Cowboys comes a week after the club lost to the Sea Eagles, with the club conceding 78 points in the last fortnight.
By comparison, the five weeks preceding the Manly game, where the Dogs won every week, Ciraldo’s side conceded just 72 points at an average of 14.4 points per game, highlighting their defensive drop off in the weeks preceding the finals.
“The last two teams have played really well, done a really good job and deserved the wins thoroughly. But you can help yourself,” Ciraldo said.
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A key factor in Canterbury’s loss was the amount of errors they made – 15 in total – many of which were costly handling errors made bringing the ball out of their own end.
This in turn created an environment where the club couldn’t gain any momentum and increased their workload, ultimately resulting in fatigue that allowed the Cowboys to run away with the two points.
“If you make 125 more tackles you’re going to put yourself under pressure,” he said.
Canterbury are guaranteed a place in next week’s finals, but their coach was adamant their venture into the NRL’s post-season wouldn’t extend beyond the first week if the glaring issues of the last fortnight persisted.
“No one gives yourself a chance when you do that and certainly in the semi finals. If you do that in semi finals you won’t be there long. There’s some simple fixes there but we’ve got to do them,” he said.
However, he failed to concede that his side would be simply making the numbers, instead insisting that if they found their feet again they’d give themselves a chance to put an exclamation mark on their remarkable 2024.
“We know what our system looks like and feels like when we get it right and if we get it right next weekend we give ourselves a chance to win,” he said.
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“We just need to bring our best performance next weekend. There’s been some really good reminders over the last two weeks about what wins games and what puts you under pressure in games.”
Ciraldo, an experienced finals operator from his time with the Penrith Panthers, added the dawn of the finals brings his side a new slate to work off.
“ (A) new competition starts next week and we deserve to be there, so if we fix a couple of simple things out of that performance we’ll give ourselves a much better opportunity next week.”
Bulldogs captain Stephen Crichton echoed his coach’s sentiments, noting his belief his side “did it to ourselves tonight.”
“(We) defended a bit too long and turned over cheap possession as well,” he said.
“I think the first four times we got down there to attack their line we dropped it four times.
“That’s the simple stuff you’ve got to get right in finals games.
“If we’re going to play like tonight we’ll definitely make it a lot harder than we want.”
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