{"id":372267,"date":"2026-04-10T02:29:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T02:29:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/372267\/"},"modified":"2026-04-10T02:29:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T02:29:17","slug":"cameron-ciraldo-press-conference-after-bulldogs-beat-panthers-bronson-xerri-return-lachlan-galvin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/372267\/","title":{"rendered":"Cameron Ciraldo press conference after Bulldogs beat Panthers, Bronson Xerri return, Lachlan Galvin"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cameron Ciraldo has revealed the \u201cmost pleasing thing which no one would have seen\u201d in Bronson Xerri\u2019s return after the Bulldogs handed the Panthers their first loss of the season<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Entering Thursday\u2019s game, it was a case of Penrith by how many after Ivan Cleary\u2019s side smoked the Storm 50-10 last week on their way to a 5-0 start to the season.<\/p>\n

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The Bulldogs, meanwhile, were without their best communicator in skipper Stephen Crichton, with Ciraldo revealing after the Good Friday loss to South Sydney that he had controversially replaced the injured Crichton with Sean O\u2019Sullivan mid-game to fill that specific void.<\/p>\n

It is why the Bulldogs coach was so impressed with Xerri in his comeback game, telling reporters on Thursday night that the centre\u2019s communication was the \u201cmost pleasing\u201d part of his return.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe did well,\u201d Ciraldo said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe most pleasing thing, which no one would have seen, is how well he was communicating out there. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe players in there were already talking about that and that was something he needed to go and work on and people in the stands might not see that or value that as much as we do, but awesome to see he\u2019s brought that into his game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speaking to Channel Nine post-game, Xerri said he took his reserve grade demotion \u201con the chin\u201d and was \u201cblessed\u201d to get another opportunity to prove himself in the top side.<\/p>\n

\u201cCiro had his reasons to not put me on and I put the team first, it is what it is,\u201d Xerri added. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been tough. I had to go back and ask myself some tough questions. (I had) honest conversations with Ciro. We both know where we stand and I love this club.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even if Xerri made a considerable impression on Ciraldo, it was teammate Lachlan Galvin who stole the headlines at Accor Stadium.<\/p>\n

MORE: Cleary\u2019s cheeky Origin dig at hyped Panthers after loss<\/a><\/p>\n

Galvin steers Dogs to upset over Penrith | 02:59<\/p>\n

While Panthers halfback Nathan Cleary\u2019s 200th game was all the talk ahead of Thursday night, Galvin was celebrating a milestone of his own.<\/p>\n

Sure, 50 games pales in comparison but as Ciraldo pointed out in his press conference, it is often said that it takes that many games to \u201cfeel like an NRL player\u201d.<\/p>\n

Galvin certainly looked like he belonged against the Panthers, pulling their left-edge defence apart with surgical precision. <\/p>\n

The young halfback had four linebreak assists and a try assist in the win, prompting one reporter to ask Ciraldo if it was the best game of Galvin\u2019s career.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, maybe. I don\u2019t know. I haven\u2019t thought that far,\u201d Ciraldo replied.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was his 50th game tonight, a lot of people say it takes 50 games to feel like an NRL player or understand it a lot. I thought he was brilliant. He controlled the game for long periods. He did what he needed to do. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe didn\u2019t overplay his hand. He\u2019s improving every week. He has to deal with a fair bit, Lachie. There\u2019s always question marks about him, but he\u2019s handled it great.\u201d<\/p>\n

It may be predictable at this point, but the Bulldogs proved on Thursday night that stopping the Galvin to Jacob Preston connection is easier said than done.<\/p>\n

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‘They were getting ready for Origin’ | 05:11<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve formed a really good combination those two,\u201d Ciraldo said. <\/p>\n

\u201cEver since Lachie came into the team, Jacob\u2019s really formed a good combination running off him and he\u2019s sort of elevated his game as well. <\/p>\n

\u201cSo it\u2019s good to see those guys combining well and hopefully we can build off that.\u201d<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t just Preston, though. The entire Bulldogs pack stood tall on Thursday, with Ciraldo declaring they were \u201ctremendous\u201d.<\/p>\n

While the Bulldogs started 2026 with two wins, neither was convincing and back-to-back losses against the Knights and Rabbitohs had serious questions being asked of their premiership credentials. <\/p>\n

Specifically, the attack once again looked to be a major weakness with the Bulldogs finally scoring 20 points last week and only after a garbage-time try to Connor Tracey. <\/p>\n

Given Ciraldo is more of a defensive-minded coach, the early results have seen the spotlight turned on former Knights coach Adam O\u2019Brien, who is in charge of the Bulldogs\u2019 attack along with new attack analyst Michael Kulen. <\/p>\n

Ciraldo described the criticism of both as \u201cpretty unfair\u201d.<\/p>\n

McLean Sin Bin: “A Little Confusing” | 01:08<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not the first team to come back from Vegas and not hit the ground running after it, but I think the most pleasing thing for me is how much everyone within our four walls believed in what we were doing, stuck to our process,\u201d Ciraldo said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe players are awesome. They just trust in what we\u2019re doing. The staff is unreal. We\u2019ve got a new coaching staff with the likes of Adam O\u2019Brien and Mick Kulen running the attack. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been pretty unfair on them, some of the stuff I\u2019ve heard as well. They\u2019ve been working really hard behind the scenes. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve put a great foundation into our game and they deserve a big wrap for the nice performance as well.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cameron Ciraldo has revealed the \u201cmost pleasing thing which no one would have seen\u201d in Bronson Xerri\u2019s return…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":372268,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[111,139,69,213],"class_list":{"0":"post-372267","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-new-zealand","9":"tag-newzealand","10":"tag-nz","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372267","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=372267"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372267\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/372268"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=372267"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=372267"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=372267"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}