‘Weed those players out’: Dogs slammed for ‘diabolical’ effort amid calls for an attitude change

Journalists Brent Read and Phil Rothfield believe the attitude of some of the players needs to change, with a number of them not buying what rookie coach Cameron Ciraldo is selling.

“I think it’s a myriad of reasons. Injuries have been an issue for them. I think that Cameron Ciraldo has found that, and he’s spoken about this in press conferences, the culture within the place, the winning ethos and the desire to work hard isn’t there,” Read said on NRL 360.

“When you talk to Cameron it’s about wanting to win every moment, every training session every week but that’s not necessarily there among that playing group.”

“I spoke to Cameron today and I think it’s a little culture problem and it’s not just on the football field,” Rothfield said.

“Cameron’s come from the Panthers and they are as professional you can get in prep, they turn up, they arrive early and finish late.

“His head of sport science Travis Touma comes from the Roosters and Souths and (those teams) won three comps with Travis, so what Cameron is trying to do is lift Canterbury to how the Roosters did it and how Penrith do it.

“Most of the players are going along with it but some are struggling. They can’t cope with it. They are just not used to the intensity and the demands … I’m hearing that.”

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Read and Rothfield’s comments come in the wake of the Bulldogs giving the green light to two recently signed forwards in Ryan Sutton and club captain Raymond Faitala-Mariner to look for other clubs.

Rugby league great Gorden Tallis reflected on his playing days and how the Bulldogs of today are currently a far cry from the Canterbury sides he used to face.

“You have to weed those players out. The Dogs have to be the Bulldogs. When I played against them they were hard-nosed. The Bulldogs, they never gave up,” Tallis said.

Rothfield believes that the disgruntlement is coming from middle to lower-tier players on the club’s roster, and not the stars.

“I think if Cameron Ciraldo would pay attention to a couple of complaining players if it was the likes of a Josh Addo-Carr, Matt Burton, Reed Mahoney, but they’ve all come from really strong systems so they like what he is trying to do … but some of the boys can’t cope with it.”

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NRL 360 host Braith Anasta, who started his career at the Dogs and played 110 NRL games there between 2000-2005, says the players who aren’t putting in “have got to go.”

“The sad thing at the moment for Bulldogs fans and ex-players or whatever, is you watch it and at the start of the year you could see them rebuilding, you could see improvement and consistency in their performances and their defence,” Anasta said.

“All of a sudden, they’ve fallen off a cliff. They’re averaging 44-45 points against them a game over their last six games.

“There’s no excuse for that is there? There really isn’t. Injuries or not, that’s diabolic.”