The Bulldogs are set to be 1-13 on Friday night with the eight players struck down by Covid given the green light to take on the Panthers in what shapes as a virtual elimination final for Cameron Ciraldo’s side.

The Canterbury coach revealed after last week’s win over the Dragons that a handful of players had battled the virus, with eight players and two staff members isolated from the rest of the squad on Monday.

Former outside back Steve Turner had to fill in at fullback for the session, but Ciraldo did not take part, with everyone involved in Thursday’s captain’s run at Belmore.

“I was slow when I played, so I can’t move any faster now,” he joked.

“Everyone’s good, everyone’s back on deck.

“It was more precautionary at the start of the week. Obviously, it was just a light session we had earlier in the week, so we decided to keep the guys away from each other until after the day off.

“Everyone bounced in yesterday, we had a good preparation, and we’re excited about the opportunity tomorrow.

“It was probably a little bit blown out of proportion. We had a bit of influenza A go through the camp a couple of weeks ago and that rocked some guys, so we were more testing for that.

“The boys have been good, they sort of had a runny nose for a while, and we kept them away from each other.”

The health of his team is one of two big boosts for Ciraldo leading into the Panthers clash, with edge forward Jacob Preston agreeing to a four-year extension after there were fears he could hit the open market on November 1.

The club was always confident it would find a number that worked for both parties, with Bulldogs supremo Phil Gould convincing one of the best back-rowers to stay when new franchises the Bears and Chiefs were circling.

“It’s been awesome watching Jacob’s journey over the last four years. He’s grown so much as a player and a person, and we’re really excited to have him around for a lot longer,” Ciraldo said.

“I don’t know the details (of the deal), that’s between Gus (Gould) and his management. But as I said, I was really confident Jacob wanted to stay. We wanted to keep him and I’m happy it’s done now.

“Jacob was very adamant that he loves the club and wanted to stay here. It’s a good rap for our club that he’s enjoying his footy here and enjoying the environment.

“He thinks he can play his best footy here. We’re really pleased, but as I said, we’ve got a very short-term focus tomorrow, and that’s putting our best performance out there.”

That focus is solely on the Panthers game, which the Bulldogs must win if they want to keep their finals hopes alive.

The Bulldogs start the round two points behind the eighth-placed Cowboys, with Canterbury handing Penrith their first loss of the year back in round 6.

“We’re not talking about what’s on the line in a big picture sense,” Ciraldo said.

“We’ve got a very short-term focus, we want to stay present throughout that 80 minutes, and if we can do that and get our game on, then we give ourselves an opportunity.

“There’s no point us worrying about everything else outside that 80 minutes.”

Originally published as ‘Blown out of proportion’: Bulldogs Covid nightmare over as emerging superstar signs huge extension with club