A defiant Cameron Ciraldo has revealed he is proud of the season his side put together, despite being bundled out by a "near perfect" Penrith Panthers in Sunday afternoon's semi-final.
Ciraldo's side were blown out of the water in the first half of the game by Penrith, before mounting a second half effort to make the scoreline somewhat respectable.
The head coach, who has been under fire for selection decisions during a disappointing second half of the year at Belmore, said the first half was a painful lesson, but that he was proud of what his team dished up in the second half.
"That first half is a pretty painful lesson for us in the future. We ran into a champion team that knows what it takes to win these big games. They were near perfect and we were off the mark in the first half," Ciraldo said during his post-match press conference.
"They completed at a hundred per cent, and we made a couple of errors but didn't have the defensive intensity that was needed. Every opportunity they got, they took.
"That was a nightmare that first half.
"These guys, I'm just so proud of them throughout the year when they have had to face adversity. They never stop fighting, never give in, never get torn apart. To come out in the second half and attack the game the way they did, it made me really proud.
"At halftime, in a semi-final at 36 to 8, you have every right being the Panthers to start thinking about next week and going into self preservation mode, and I totally understand that would have been part of it.
"I thought we attacked the second half though with and without the ball was awesome. We scored some tries in the second half, but left a couple out there as well."
The Bulldogs provided glimpses of their game plan - attacking down the right-hand side through Lachlan Galvin and Jacob Preston - during the second half, and Ciraldo said his side, who were embarrassed in the first half, couldn't get into the game.
"We had a really clear game plan of what we wanted to do, we just weren't allowed to do it in the first half. They completed sets and made us come off our own line, and that pressure forced us into some errors. They were brilliant.
"At halftime, there was a challenge there. It was embarrassing being in that position in the biggest gae of your life. The way they went about it in the second half is something to be proud of.
"I think our fans should be really proud of the way they have stuck together this year."
The coach said he wouldn't change a thing about the season, despite the ending, but admitted it was a weird campaign where plenty of learnings were made.
"I wouldn't change a thing. This is all part of the journey. There have been some tough times this year and our guys have had to deal with a lot more scrutiny than probably some other places," he said.
"The way they stuck together, handled it and kept building a really strong culture. I'm really proud.
"Our season was weird. We were coming first but we had a couple of byes, we played a lot of top quality opposition in the second half of the year.
"This is the first year our club has had to go through Origin period with a lot of players involved in a long time, so that was another part of our learning.
"We had injuries at different times which didn't help us as well. I know what the headlines will be, but internally, we are really clear on how this season panned out."
