‘The heat is on’: Ciraldo’s bold optimism questioned as Bulldogs’ ‘big kill’ theory emerges

Bulldogs coach Cameron Ciraldo’s bold optimism following their poor season-opening loss to the Eels has been called into question.

After Canterbury were thumped 26-8 by Parramatta, Ciraldo raised eyebrows with some comments in the post-match press conference.

“I couldn’t be happier with some of the things I saw out there,” he said.

“Obviously the scoreboard didn’t go in our favour but to come back and win the last 20 minutes two tries to one and two tries all in the second half, I thought that was outstanding.”

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The clip was played on NRL 360 and co-hosts Braith Anasta and Paul Kent were divided on where the Dogs are at in their second season under Ciraldo.

“I didn’t quite see it the same way to be honest,” Anasta said after Ciraldo’s presser comments were played.

“They’ve recruited a lot of players at high turnover and look I’m willing to give them a few weeks, but you’ve got to admit with the turnover of players, the recruitment, the money they’ve spent, they need to improve these next couple of games. The heat is already on.”

But Kent argued it was unfair to judge the rebuilding club against a Parramatta side he believes will play finals this year.

“I thought Parramatta were a really classy team and have a real good look about them this year so if you put it in that light, the Bulldogs (weren’t that bad),” Kent said.

“I think they’re still learning how to play how Ciraldo wants them to. They’re not the finished club by any standards, they’re still a club on the improve. They’re not a top eight club, let’s remember that and Parramatta are a top eight club.”

But Phil Rothfield argued the club has prioritised a group of average players instead of going after one or two stars.

“They signed eight handy players in the off-season, Turpin, Hutchison etc… borderline NRL players at their previous club,” he said.

“If you average them out at 300, there’s 2.4 million of your cap which personally I would rather see them strengthen positions they needed. But they didn’t have any money left after signing all these players.”

“They were replacing what they had with slightly better until they can make the big kill,” Kent responded.

“There’s no point going and wasting money paying overs for a guy just so you get that notch on the belt of signing a big name when he’s not really what you need and then that means that money is not there when a player you really do need becomes available.”

The panel pointed out Ciraldo went after and missed out on Addin Fonua-Blake and Tino, but Rothfield said they needed a halfback .

“Why didn’t they go hard for Tom Dearden? Ezra Mam was off contract,” he said.

Bulldogs premiership winner Anasta asked how long it would take because “I’ve watched the Dogs forever and this rebuild has been forever”.

“The problem with the salary cap is you can’t go out like you could in years past and fix your problems with money because you’ve got to manage your salary cap,” Kent said.

“Now they’re not travelling at the rate of improvement you’d like to see… but they are getting better.”