{"id":678644,"date":"2026-05-18T13:02:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T13:02:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/678644\/"},"modified":"2026-05-18T13:02:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T13:02:13","slug":"canterbury-bulldogs-stars-under-fire-over-appalling-trend-not-nrl-standard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/678644\/","title":{"rendered":"Canterbury Bulldogs stars under fire over \u2018appalling\u2019 trend: \u2018Not NRL standard\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Things are \u201cgetting worse\u201d for the Canterbury Bulldogs<\/a> after an underwhelming Magic Round loss to the inconsistent Sharks.<\/p>\n

But Roosters premiership winner Luke Keary believes the Dogs are only \u201ca few little recruitment tweaks\u201d away from getting back on track.<\/p>\n

Sliding into the bottom four of the NRL<\/a> premiership ladder amid a five-game losing streak, the back-to-back finalists have endured a dramatic fall after sitting at the top of the competition at this stage last year.<\/p>\n

Know the news with the 7NEWS app: Download today Arrow<\/a><\/p>\n

They have been unable to recapture the defensive resilience that formed the foundation of their success, with the side also undergoing more changes than any other team in the competition this season.<\/p>\n

The Bulldogs trailed 30-6 at half-time with Keary questioning coach Cam Ciraldo\u2019s judgement afterwards.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe most bizarre thing I\u2019ve ever heard, the coach said there was a lot of good stuff in the first half,\u201d Keary said on Channel 7\u2019s The Agenda Setters.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to have to rewatch it tonight and I\u2019m going to find the good stuff from the first half.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first set, the Bulldogs in defence, their forward pack didn\u2019t get behind the ball until tackle four after 40 seconds of the game. So I\u2019m unsure what they\u2019re seeing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whether they can turn things around to make the finals this year remains to be seen but Keary is adamant it will not be a \u201clong-term\u201d slide.<\/p>\n

He pointed to meetings with Warriors halfback Luke Metcalf, who has since signed with the Dragons, and Titans hooker Sam Verrills, who has yet to settle his future, as a positive sign.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is an admission to me that, yes, they got it wrong,\u201d Keary said.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone gets things wrong but I think it\u2019s just a few little recruitment tweaks, and they\u2019ll be back on track. Because I think Cam Ciraldo is a good coach.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leading NRL journalist David Riccio said he does not think the Verrills situation \u201cwill eventuate\u201d for the Dogs.<\/p>\n

But Keary said they still need to find a long-term hooker, while questions linger over the No.7 jumper.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Mitch Woods can get himself right, or you bring a genuine half,\u201d Keary said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne or two tweaks. Mate, it\u2019s all there. They\u2019ve admitted, probably, that they might have got it wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"LASLAS VEGAS, NEVADA – FEBRUARY 24: Lachlan Galvin of the Bulldogs speaks with Bulldogs coach Cameron Ciraldo during a Canterbury Bulldogs NRL training session at James Regional Sports Complex on February 24, 2026 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ian Hitchcock\/Getty Images) Credit: Ian Hitchcock\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Former Bulldogs forward Aaron Woods views the current outfit as a group lacking confidence more than lacking the personnel to be competitive and challenge for finals.<\/p>\n

\u201cI look at Connor Tracey, that is a different player to what I\u2019ve seen last year,\u201d Woods said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI look at the whole group, they\u2019re not upbeat, they\u2019re not buzzing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Riccio felt the Bulldogs were hamstrung by a lack of selection pressure from the NSW Cup side.<\/p>\n

But former Broncos captain Corey Parker bluntly described the Dogs\u2019 collapse as \u201cgarbage\u201d given the side\u2019s only two significant losses in the off-season were halfback Toby Sexton and hooker Reed Mahoney.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a team that finished third in the regular season last year,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere has been two players leave, that is it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re telling me that Reed Mahoney and Toby Sexton are two of the most influential players within this group, so much so that they can only get a couple of wins to start this season (without them) \u2014 absolute BS.\u201d<\/p>\n

Keary posited that halfbacks and hookers \u201cshould be\u201d a team\u2019s most influential players.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo you\u2019re saying they were the glue for this team that made them the second-best defensive team in the comp last year?\u201d Parker responded.<\/p>\n

Keary replied: \u201cI think they helped. I think they were a bigger factor than people are going to admit. Reed Mahoney\u2019s one of the toughest hookers in the competition.\u201d<\/p>\n

Parker said he did not disagree but was adamant \u201cthat doesn\u2019t mean the whole house falls down\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe keep going to it\u2019s Galvin, it\u2019s Burton, it\u2019s that combination,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just keep going around and around and around with no one having any definitive idea of what\u2019s going on.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe messaging from Ciraldo in his press conference was alarming. I don\u2019t know if that\u2019s just the public message to portray to his players.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut some of the movements defensively from their biggest stars, their highest earnings, are appalling. They\u2019re not NRL standard.\u201d<\/p>\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Things are \u201cgetting worse\u201d for the Canterbury Bulldogs after an underwhelming Magic Round loss to the inconsistent Sharks.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":678645,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,16658,1625,761,762,158,3863,588,85],"class_list":["post-678644","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-canterbury-bankstown-bulldogs","tag-lifestyle","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sponsored-content","tag-sport","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/678644","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=678644"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/678644\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/678645"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=678644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=678644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=678644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}