Bulldogs coach Cameron Ciraldo has defended the club's punishment on a top 30 roster player who was allegedly late to training and addressed some rumours that have been circling around the club.
Ciraldo addressed the media on Wednesday morning, one day after reports emerged that one of the Bulldogs players walked out on the club. During the conference, he doubled down on the club's push to increase standards, aiming to turn them into a finals contender in the next few years.
Admittedly, he revealed that the Bulldogs have used several methods to punish players who didn't meet the standards put in place by the club, including fines and different sanctions. This comes after reports emerged that a player was forced to wrestle more than 12 players as a punishment for allegedly being late.
“It's a pretty sensitive issue and I won't be commenting,” Ciraldo told the media on Wednesday morning.
“I don't want to comment specifically, but at different times, we've wanted to put some standards in place, and if you're late, we have to do something.
“We are trying to drive standards. We want to have winning performance standards. Some of that's been monetary related, some of it's been spinning a wheel, and then some of that's been trying to find ways to change behaviours.
“The reality is we need to change behaviours here, and I think we've done a good job of that throughout the season. And I feel really sorry for the fans that we are where we are.
“It doesn't seem like we've taken steps forward this year on the same wins as last year. We definitely haven't taken steps back.”
Coming from a club in the Penrith Panthers with greater demands than a normal team, Ciraldo also spoke on the rumours that several players are reportedly unhappy with his training demands.
Earlier this week, The Sydney Morning Herald reported that staff officials at the club were made aware of a text message stating that eight players were unhappy under the coaching of Ciraldo. One of the grievances they had was his training demands, in which they had to be around from 8am to 5:30pm.
“No one has come to me and told me they're complaining about long days,” he said via the Herald.
“We've got a [Jersey] Flegg group [under-21s] in here that do weights at five o'clock in the morning, go and work for 10 hours and come back and do field [sessions] at 5.30 in the afternoon. That's a long day.
“The way those guys are going about their business is showing they are the future [of the] Bulldogs and that's who we are going to build the club around.”
