{"id":278958,"date":"2025-11-12T02:49:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-12T02:49:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/278958\/"},"modified":"2025-11-12T02:49:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-12T02:49:12","slug":"bulldogs-recruit-leo-thompson-reveals-decision-behind-knights-exit-nrl-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/278958\/","title":{"rendered":"Bulldogs recruit Leo Thompson reveals decision behind Knights exit – NRL News"},"content":{"rendered":"

New Canterbury Bulldogs<\/a> recruit Leo Thompson<\/a> has opened up on the reasons behind his move from the Newcastle Knights<\/a>, revealing that a conversation with Cameron Ciraldo<\/a> and a taste of the Bulldogs’ fan culture helped convince him to sign a four-year deal with the Belmore-based club.<\/p>\n

The Kiwi prop, who will remain at Belmore until the end of 2029, said he was won over by Ciraldo’s honesty and the club’s belief in his potential.<\/p>\n

\u201cI held onto that [one-club mindset] for a long time, but they told me areas of my game that I could work on \u2014 and I’m always keen to learn and get better,\u201d Thompson told 9News.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey told me they could help me with some of my weaknesses.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thompson revealed that he attended the Bulldogs’ semi-final clash against the Penrith Panthers<\/a> last season as a fan, sitting high in the stands to experience the passion of the Belmore faithful firsthand.<\/p>\n

\u201cI snuck into the stadium, turned up late and sat in the nosebleeds so nobody would recognise me,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI experienced what it’s like to sit in the crowd and hear how vocal they are, I love playing in front of a huge crowd. I love that atmosphere.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"NewAUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND – NOVEMBER 01: Leo Thompson of the Kiwis runs through training drills during the New Zealand Kiwis captain’s run at Go Media Stadium on November 01, 2024 in Auckland, New Zealand. (Photo by Hannah Peters\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

The 25-year-old admitted he once hoped to be a \u201cone-club man\u201d with the Knights, but ultimately sought a fresh challenge and environment where he could grow.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can see with this team that they’ve got a big focus on defence, which is something I pride myself on,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Now set to link up with fellow forwards Max King<\/a> and Viliame Kikau<\/a>, Thompson is eager to make his mark in a pack built on hard work and resilience.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can feel that \u2018Dogs of War’ mentality,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

“That’s what excites me most.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New Canterbury Bulldogs recruit Leo Thompson has opened up on the reasons behind his move from the Newcastle…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":72108,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-278958","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nrl","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-national-rugby-league","11":"tag-nationalrugbyleague","12":"tag-nrl","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278958","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=278958"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278958\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72108"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=278958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=278958"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=278958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}