COACH’S CORNER: Warning signs at the Canterbury Bulldogs

You don't have to look too far to see the pressure being applied to Dragons coach Shane Flanagan. All we keep hearing about is that the Dragons have lost nine games in a row, including four at the end of last season.

But eight kilometres away from where the Cowboys slayed the Dragons in Kogarah, there's a team that have lost eight of their last twelve.

Of the two matches they won at the end of last season, one was against a Warriors side that were starting to fizzle out in round 23, the other, against a Penrith side that had rested most of their top liners ahead of the finals. Indeed, when they met three weeks later, the mountain men got their revenge.

Of the two won in 2026, they have scraped home against the Dragons in Golden Point, and just beat the Raiders. Yes, the same Dragons that are at the bottom of the ladder without a win and the same Raiders who sit just above the Dragons in the standings.

The Bulldogs are a club that has invested heavily in a new roster over the last few years and their junior pathways are now superior to many others.

They are a club that took the plunge and paid Phil Gould the big bucks to become General Manager of Football in July 2021, and then extended him to 2031.

They also hired one of the most sought-after coaches in recent memory, beating a few other clubs to his signature. Cameron Ciraldo had been given a tour of the Wests Tigers facilities, and the Warriors, and Titans (we learned later) were to be in the market for a new mentor.

I for one won't forget the fanfare around Ciraldo at the time. Like trying to nab somebody very attractive in a night club, several NRL clubs were pitching to the coach, in a desperate bid to sign the man thought to be the best coaching prospect on the market.

Gus got his man, and Cameron Ciraldo agreed to terms with the Bulldogs in August 2023. Two years later, they extended his contract to align it with that of Gould.

In 2024, they made the finals, lost and went out straight away, yet that was very much better than a pass mark for coach and club at the time. The Bulldogs were clearly in the process of being rebuilt after their roster had been overhauled completely since Gould's arrival in 2021.

The start of 2025 saw the Dogs come flying out of the traps. Six games unbeaten to start and only one loss in the first eleven rounds. They lost round twelve heavily to the Dolphins but victories over the Eels and the Bunnies kept them well in the mix for a top-four finish.

The next five games saw three wins out of five, and that then brings us up to speed with the ‘last twelve' mentioned earlier.

The vanquished during this five-game period were the Cowboys, Dragons and Sea Eagles, none of them top eight material last year.

We'd have to be kidding ourselves not to admit that the Dogs form line has dipped significantly since the middle of last season.

And a lot of the drop in standards can be attributed to the tinkering with the team. Lachlan Galvin played his first game in Bulldogs colours last June, and played his first game as starting halfback in Round 20 in the middle of July. Right in the middle of the five games that were the start of the downward trend.

The regular half prior to that was Toby Sexton, and he only wore the Bulldogs number seven jersey once more, in their second and last finals game before leaving the club.

It would be easy to draw the conclusion that Galvin is the problem, but that would also fail to note that he has performed much better as a running five-eighth rather than an organising half, yet he's only been sparingly used there.

Right now, it looks like he's playing in the wrong position or, as I prefer to look at things, playing the wrong role. There are no rules in the game that say a number seven must organise things for a more free-spirited five-eighth to benefit from, but someone needs to call the shots.

And that brings us to the ‘C' word; communication. The word that Ciraldo used to explain why he chose to bring on a specialist half when his left centre got injured, instead moving his five-eighth Matt Burton to cover the void left By Stephen Crichton's absence.

According to Ciraldo, more communication is what the Bulldogs needed in the middle of their loss to the Rabbitohs. Was that an admission that his halves weren't communicating well? Chrichton himself also found himself playing in the halves at one point in the game a week earlier.

Gould also then used a TV appearance on Monday to explain that Ciraldo was protecting the club doctor with his ‘communication' explanation. It seems the pressure is building somewhat.

Statistically, they are the second worst team in attack in the NRL at present. And the worst of the teams that have had a bye already. After four games last year, their attack score was already in triple figures, but by the end of the year, only the Warriors had scored less from all teams in the play-off positions. Even the twelfth placed Cowboys had scored more.

Their attack hasn't clicked for a good while and it's clear that there is a problem around the halves; problems that started when Galvin was brought into the mix. Who knows where they would have finished if they hadn't jettisoned Sexton.

When a team doesn't click, despite almost ten months together and a full off-season to get things right, it's time for the off-field decision makers to look at changing the players or the off-season decision makers to look within.

Lachy Galvin is a professional and is playing quite well. He is not the problem at the Dogs, but how he's being used and at who's expense, could definitely be the problem.

The decision to bring him to the club as halfback was very probably Gus Gould's. I am not sure if any club in the NRL wouldn't like a player of the calibre of Galvin, still only 20 years old, in their ranks.

Yet Ciraldo is the one working with Galvin and the rest of the team day to day. He is the one responsible for selecting and coaching the team and therefore, the halves combination.

There would be enough evidence now for club powerbrokers to have some concerns that the talents in the team aren't being maximised.
Why did Canterbury hire Adam O'Brien as attacking coach? He was the previous head coach of the Knights that were awful with the ball in 2025 and look liberated under a new mentor in 2026.

There certainly needs to be some tough questions asked.

It will be an expensive exercise to do this, but Philip Ronald Gould has history of moving coaches on (including this writer, from Penrith back in the day!).

One of his first moves at Panthers was to replace Matthew Elliott with Ivan Cleary. Think back to how Cleary was sacked in 2015, with claims from Gould that he ‘was tired'. Anthony Griffin was brought in to replace him, but sacked three years later, with four games to go before the finals and his team sitting fourth in the ladder. Gould cited an “old school” approach from the coach as the problem.
We all know what Ivan Cleary has done as a coach since he returned to Penrith. But by then Gould had left.

Just like he did when at the foot of the mountains, Gould has built up powerful junior pathways and put all the structures in place for long-term success to occur at the Canterbury Bulldogs. But there were accusations his ‘tinkering' with first grade matters halted progress at Penrith. Is the same thing holding Ciraldo and the Bulldogs back?

Their next three games include a trip to the home of the Broncos, last years' Premiers, two weeks after they host the Panthers, favourites for this years' title.

I guess those tough questions could be even tougher in only a few weeks time.

Lee Addison is a former club coach at Sea Eagles and Panthers and the founder of rugbyleaguecoach.com.au. He is a Coach Mentor and his programmes for coaches and clubs can be found HERE.