Bulldogs coach Cameron Ciraldo was frustrated with the penalty count in the second half of his side’s 32-24 loss to the Rabbitohs on Good Friday.

The loss was made worse by the fact skipper Stephen Crichton was rubbed out for an extended period with a shoulder injury, but Ciraldo believes he couldn’t have helped the Bulldogs to victory with such a lopsided penalty count in the second 40.

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“Stephen’s a great player, but he couldn’t have done much about that in the second half, unless he could have taken the whistle off the referee,” Ciraldo said.

Pressed on whether he would take it up with the NRL, Ciraldo was emphatic.

“I’d be silly not to,” Ciraldo said.

“We’ve got to learn from it. There’s probably some things in there that we can control and do better, but there’s probably a few we could have got as well I reckon at some stage.”

Ciraldo was pressed on which penalties he felt were unfair, but believes the calls were out of his side’s control.

“I’m going to have to have a look at them, but I’m not sure how much of it we could control,” Ciraldo said.

“The fact you’re asking me if they’re contentious probably means they are, but I don’t know, I’m sitting up in the box.

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Cameron Ciraldo and Kurt Mann.Source: FOX SPORTS

“The reality is we got penalised six or seven times in the second half. They completed 24 sets straight, so they did a great job with that. And we had no possession, no field position.

“Then at the end there was just too many fatigue errors on the back of that.

“But I’m sitting here a much prouder coach of their effort tonight than I was this time last week, so very happy with how they hung in there when then everything was going against them. And then even strong enough to get that last try, which shows they never give up.”

The Bulldogs came back from 12-6 down to lead 18-12 at the break and Ciraldo felt his team was in control leading into the second half.

“Probably the second half, I reckon,” Ciraldo said when asked where it went wrong.

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Wayne & Cam Honour Nathan Merritt | 04:44

“I thought we were really good in the first half. We had a bit of a storm early and then got our game on that second 20-minute period.

“I thought our bench was outstanding when they came on and really changed the momentum of the game in the first half.

“And then I thought we started the second half really strong and then just penalties against us just cruelled us in the second half.

“You can’t give a good team like Souths that much possession and field position and we paid the price for that.”

Despite suffering back-to-back losses, Ciraldo saw some bright spots in the performance to build on.

“There’s a lot to like about what we were doing and sticking to the plan,” Ciraldo said.

Baffling spine call exposed in Dogs loss | 07:44

“And part of that plan of our attack was trying to complement our defence as well, and take some juice out of Souths’ key players and I thought we were doing that really well, which hopefully was going to pay us back late in the game.

“And unfortunately, we just weren’t able to keep doing that in the second half because of the penalties, but there’s some really good signs there and very happy with their effort.”

Crichton’s injury will be a big blow and Ciraldo conceded his captain would be sidelined for an extended period.

“It’s not looking great in there,” Ciraldo said.

Crichton Off with suspected AC injury | 00:39

“They’re saying high grade two, grade three possibly AC. That’s the initial thoughts on it, so he’ll be out for a while, but it’s opportunity for someone else.”

Pressed on whether he would bring in Bronson Xerri or persist with Matt Burton in the centres and Sean O’Sullivan and Lachlan Galvin in the halves as he did against the Rabbitohs, Ciraldo was evasive.

“I’m just trying to figure out what happened in the second half firstly and we’ll get to team lists on Tuesday,” Ciraldo said.