\u2018Give him a chance\u2019: NFL scouts\u2019 Burton interest heats up after stunning feat<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cThere was a period where we watched the game against Penrith back. Took a lot of lessons from that and hopefully rectify that this year,\u201d back-rower Jacob Preston said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll the boys were disappointed about how we ended last year. Going out in straight-sets in semi-finals is not what anyone wants to do. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt was very uncomfortable. That day we got blown off the park and it\u2019s not something we pride ourselves on and we took a lot from that.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we started last year red-hot and then kind of fell off towards the end and we\u2019ve learnt a lot from that. We\u2019ve had a big pre-season and kind of learnt lessons from that and worked on it in the pre-season.\u201d<\/p>\n
Last season is in the rear-view mirror of the Bulldogs.Source: The Daily Telegraph<\/p>\n
With last year in the rear-view mirror, the disappointing end to their season has raised standards internally and among the playing group.<\/p>\n
Training sessions have intensified, players are being pushed to their limits, rookies are holding senior players accountable and the squad is embracing internal competition as they aim for the gold standard.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you want to take the next step, you need to learn from the past,\u201d Bulldogs coach Cameron Ciraldo said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve learned a lot of valuable lessons from the last two years in particular that are going to hold us in really good stead.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like our training has gone up another level this pre-season, and I\u2019m really excited at what we can achieve this season.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ciraldo\u2019s message is clear and simple. You need to look back to the past to embrace the future and to improve.<\/p>\n
‘At home watching movies’ | 04:25<\/p>\n
Making consecutive finals series, the Bulldogs are no longer in the rebuilding stage and have finetuned their roster with the recruitment of Leo Thompson to beef up their forward stocks as well as Kade Dykes and Sean O\u2019Sullivan to further their depth.<\/p>\n
At the same time, it has come with some tough calls.<\/p>\n
Former spine members Reed Mahoney (North Queensland Cowboys) and Toby Sexton (Super League) headline a list of ten players who have gone the other way as the club continues to reshape their combinations on the field.<\/p>\n
This opens the door for Bailey Hayward to step in as their permanent dummy-half and grant him the responsibility of controlling the ruck.<\/p>\n
And in the halves, Matt Burton and Lachlan Galvin will be given more time to build greater chemistry with each other as well as understand one another\u2019s game more.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, rookie standout Mitchell Woods continues to develop his craft under them and slowly push for a spot in the starting line-up.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been really good, I didn\u2019t know all three [Burton, Galvin and Woods] of those boys before I came and we\u2019ve built a really good connection and we all have our own special little bonds with each other,\u201d O\u2019Sullivan said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe boys keep telling Lachie he needs to get off my hip now, he won\u2019t leave me alone but I\u2019ve really enjoyed building a good connection with all of them.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re all great players and great humans too which is really good. We\u2019re all fighting for two spots but they\u2019re really good people.\u201d<\/p>\n
2026 NRL Season Launch of the Bulldogs. (Supplied)Source: FOX SPORTS2026 NRL Season Launch of the Bulldogs. (Supplied)Source: FOX SPORTS<\/p>\n
With their roster now sorted by Ciraldo and GM of Football Phil Gould, the Bulldogs have removed any uncertainty heading into the 2026 season as they aim for the premiership.<\/p>\n
There is only one question that remains. Can they live up to expectations?<\/p>\n
If so, they will be one of the favourites alongside the Brisbane Broncos, Melbourne Storm and bitter rivals Penrith to emerge victorious over the other 16 teams.<\/p>\n
\u201cExpectations get higher as you go good in this competition,\u201d back-rower Viliame Kikau said.<\/p>\n
\u201cTeams start coming after you when they know you\u2019re sitting in the top-four the previous year so we know that teams are going to come after us but if we nail our process and we are still driven, we\u2019ll be good.\u201d<\/p>\n
Reflecting on the past and putting together a strong pre-season, the Bulldogs now get to prove that they are a different team from the one that bowed out in last year\u2019s semi-finals.<\/p>\n
First step\u2026Las Vegas at Allegiant Stadium against the St George Illawarra Dragons to kick off the start of the 2026 NRL season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"2004. The last time the Bulldogs won the comp. It\u2019s been a trying 21 years for the club\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":504085,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-504084","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/504084","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=504084"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/504084\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/504085"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=504084"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=504084"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=504084"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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