Last week the Bulldogs looked like world beaters. This week? Not so much.

Coach Cameron Ciraldo joked he will need a “psychology degree” to work out how his team went from stunning the previously undefeated Panthers to conceding 38 points to an undermanned Parramatta line-up.

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The Bulldogs coach has a theory, but he hopes it’s not the right one.

“I’d like to think not but that’s certainly what it looked like,” Ciraldo said when asked if complacency played a part in their 38-20 loss to the Eels on Sunday.

“I thought we started well, we started with good energy and intent. But any sort of error and penalty we had, we just showed no resilience to defend it. The scoreboard ticked over.

“I thought Parra were really good, exactly what we expected them to be. So deserved the win but we were way off our best.”

The Bulldogs were dealt a last-minute blow ahead of Sunday’s game when Enari Tuala went down with a hamstring injury on “basically the last rep” of their training run on Saturday.

Ciraldo made the surprising decision to play Josh Curran in Tuala’s place, explaining to reporters post-game that he had full confidence in the versatile forward to get the job done.

“He’s played a fair bit at the Warriors, played centre a number of times, done a lot there in the pre-season,” Ciraldo said.

“We just thought considering how late the switch was, Jon Sua’s played one game in first grade two years ago, just thought it would have been a bit tough on him to throw him in an unfamiliar position at late notice and Josh has had plenty of reps there to be able to do that job, he didn’t get caught out defensively today, he was fine.

“That was the rationale behind it. We’re obviously missing two of our top centres there in Enari and Critter and Josh is a player that’s played over 100 games, knows the system well.”

Meanwhile, winger Jacob Kiraz also went off with a knee injury and will undergo scans.

In welcome news, skipper Stephen Crichton was “very close” to returning this week and is likely to be named to play the Broncos but his inclusion will matter little if the rest of the team dishes up what it did on Sunday.

“Our best is good enough to challenge anyone. Our worst is a long way off that so we want to be consistent, we want to be playing close to our best every week but today was far from it and we need to figure out why,” Ciraldo said.

The Bulldogs have a five-day turnaround ahead of next week’s clash with the Broncos, who are facing their own injury crisis like Parramatta but coming off a stirring win over the Tigers.

The short preparation means little to coach Ciraldo, who had a blunt message when asked about it on Sunday.

“Who cares how long the turnaround is,” he said.

“If we turn up with the right mindset, we’ll give ourselves a chance. If we turn up with that crap, we’ll get what we deserve.”

Second rower Viliame Kikau was uncharacteristically quiet on Sunday with just six runs for 32 metres and told reporters the players would have to “look at themselves in the mirror” after the 18-point loss.

“That’s a good question. That was the question we got asked in that change room,” Kikau said when asked if the team’s attitude was the problem.

“I think everyone has to go back and have a good look at themselves in the mirror and come in tomorrow. We just can’t let our head down.

“It’s a long competition. We’ve got to get back tomorrow and get back to work.”

Originally published as ‘Turn up with that c**p’: Cameron Ciraldo fumes as Bulldogs fall to Eels