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\u201cWe\u2019ve all heard suggestions that these players are unhappy, but that\u2019s what happens when you lose footy games. When you lose six out of seven, and players are getting swapped and dropped, you\u2019re going to have players that are unhappy,\u201d Read told NRL 360 on Monday.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve heard suggestions that players are unsettled, yes. They\u2019re a big club. When you start losing you\u2019re going to be spending half your time putting out rumours, and it can be a distraction.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ciraldo has been accused of being heavy-handed with the amount of roster tweaks he has implemented at Canterbury, after it was revealed the Bulldogs have imposed 16 on-field positional changes since playmaker Toby Sexton was stood down midway through last year.<\/p>\n
BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA – MAY 07: Head Coach Cameron Ciraldo of the Bulldogs speaks after the round 10 NRL match between Dolphins and Canterbury Bulldogs at Suncorp Stadium, on May 07, 2026, in Brisbane, Australia. (Photo by Bradley Kanaris\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
The high rate of change is being blamed for a lack of on-field cohesion among the Bulldogs, who have also been without Viliame Kikau, Jacob Kiraz, Matt Burton, Max King and Kurt Mann due to injury.<\/p>\n
Canterbury will need to turn their fortunes around quickly if they are any hope of making the finals, with the panel agreeing they must win at least nine of their remaining 14 matches to make the eight.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s difficult, my understanding is that edge defence is all about connectivity and relationships, and he [Ciraldo] has made so many changes on the edges in recent weeks \u2013 you\u2019ve had Bronson Xerri on one edge then dropped, you\u2019ve had Jacob Preston moved from one edge to the other, Tuala in the centres,\u201d Read explained. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere have been so many changes on the edges for them, and some of them have been forced but some of them have been Cam Ciraldo\u2019s decision. I think it has been hard to get any continuity and I assume any creativity, any relationship on the edge and that\u2019s what has got to happen.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve had some blokes out, but they haven\u2019t had enough out to justify the way they play.\u201d<\/p>\n
‘Don’t Blame Galvin!’ – Debate reignites | 01:54<\/p>\n
The Bulldogs looked strong in the opening 15 minutes of their performance against the Dolphins on Thursday night, but were soon exposed as the opposition put on 44 points against their poor edge defence. <\/p>\n
Coach Cameron Ciraldo tried to deflect on the side\u2019s lack of cohesion after the match, hitting out at the referees for a run of penalties and set restarts against his side.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think Ciro is trying to find an excuse, something to give to the media or the fans,\u201d Dean Ritchie told the NRL 360 panel. <\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t see anything in that game which determined the outcome of it. I think they were poor on their edges. The positional changes which have been going on since Toby Sexton in round 19 last year were when the rot started to set in. I think it\u2019s been building and building, and I can\u2019t for the life of me go towards any match official and point the finger after that one.\u201d<\/p>\n
The genesis of Bulldogs\u2019 form is debatable; some say it started with the introduction of Galvin into the side, while others argue it materialised with Reid Mahoney being pushed out as the side\u2019s hooker.<\/p>\n
‘Twenty changes!’Eyes on Dogs decisions | 04:41<\/p>\n
Either way, the panel agreed that Ciraldo had much to answer for in the wake of his side\u2019s dwindling cohesion.<\/p>\n
Former Canterbury star and NRL 360 host Braith Anasta called upon Ciraldo to decide on the Bulldogs roster and stick with it, rather than making so many tweaks each week. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been talking about this a lot, and there\u2019s time where I\u2019ve suggested they need to make changes in key positions,\u201d Anasta said. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve made so many changes now that it\u2019s almost beyond making more.<\/p>\n
\u201cDo you write the season off now and make significant changes or do you just have faith that when you get these players back from injury and you play to the standard that you know you can, and we\u2019ve seen? Do you just back your players?<\/p>\n
\u201cIt did start with that tinker of Galvin, that\u2019s where this sort of snowballed. The continuation happened because that wasn\u2019t the right move maybe.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Whispers of player dissension at Canterbury are growing louder in the wake of the Bulldogs\u2019 fourth consecutive defeat…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":666093,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-666092","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\/666092","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=666092"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/666092\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/666093"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=666092"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=666092"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=666092"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}