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Cameron Ciraldo has defended the Bulldogs’ push to increase standards at the club after a player walked out on the club when forced to wrestle up to a dozen teammates in a row for being late to training, a punishment described as “brutal” by one onlooker.
While stressing he would not directly address an allegation one of the squad’s top 30 players was used as “shark bait” — a wrestling term for being made to take on challengers continuously — the Bulldogs coach doubled down on his bid to drag the club out of the NRL basement.
The player hasn’t returned to the club since the incident, and one person who witnessed the session speaking on the condition of anonymity said the player was left physically and emotionally scarred after the training punishment.
This masthead has chosen not to name the player because of concerns over his mental health.
Ciraldo said the Bulldogs have used several methods to punish players who didn’t meet the club’s standards, including fines and spinning a wheel which would determine a sanction.
“We’ve gone through a range of different ways of talking about holding standards,” Ciraldo said on Wednesday.
Bulldogs coach Cameron Ciraldo at a press conference on Wednesday.Credit: Kate Geraghty
“Some of that’s been monetary related, some of it’s been spinning a wheel and then some of that’s been trying to find ways to change behaviours.
“The reality is we need to change behaviours here, and I think we’ve done a good job of that throughout the season. And I feel really sorry for the fans that we are where we are. It doesn’t seem like we’ve taken steps forward this year on the same wins as last year.
“We definitely haven’t taken steps back.”
The Rugby League Players’ Association have been made aware of the wrestling incident, which has emerged in the same week the Bulldogs finish their season against the Titans on the Gold Coast.
Asked whether he hoped the player would return to the club, or for more specifics about the training incident, Ciraldo said it was a “sensitive issue” and declined to comment but added “at different times we’ve wanted to put some standards in place and if you’re late we have to do something”.
Online speculation a number of Bulldogs players are unhappy with Ciraldo’s training demands and length of time he expects them at the club was refuted by the coach. He said his former club Penrith, where he helped Ivan Cleary to back-to-back premierships, had far greater demands on their players.
“No one has come to me and told me they’re complaining about long days,” he said. “We’ve got a [Jersey] Flegg group [under-21s] in here that do weights at five o’clock in the morning, go and work for 10 hours and come back and do field [sessions] at 5.30 in the afternoon. That’s a long day.
“The way those guys are going about their business is showing they are the future [of the] Bulldogs and that’s who we are going to build the club around.”
Asked whether the culture was right at the Bulldogs, Ciraldo said: “We’ve been losing so clearly the culture is not exactly right.”
The Bulldogs will finish the year third from bottom regardless of their final round result. The club hasn’t made the finals since 2016.
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