Bulldogs coach Cameron Ciraldo has refuted rumors that Canterbury is genuinely run by club president Phil Gould and that he and the venerable football icon disagree on weekly team selections.
There have been rumors that Gould and a head coach have had problems before. Two years ago, Trent Barrett led Canterbury to an unexpected victory over the Roosters after Gould allegedly took over a practice that week.
Properly, following another lackluster start, the Bulldogs are gearing up for a rainy Friday night matchup against the Roosters, with rumors that Gould has assumed more leadership over the club.
The former back-rower was poached to head the Bulldogs, but Ciraldo squashed those rumors, saying he wouldn’t have left Penrith to join Gould if the two didn’t get along. The two had worked together at the Panthers before.
“Gus and I have in-depth conversations almost every day,” he remarked.
We have a friendship that has been developed over ten or twelve years, even though we disagree on many subjects and agree on certain others.
The nice thing about it is that we can argue and then, two hours later, pick up where we left off.
It’s like talking to your dad when you speak with Gus. Sometimes I disagree with him, but other times you walk away thinking, “You made sense there.” He has faith in me regarding our direction and actions.
“I am choosing the team, that much is certain. If he continued to act in that way, I would force him to have the difficult talks with guys when they are dumped.
We get along well, and if we didn’t, I wouldn’t have come here. What good is our presence here if we are going to agree on everything?
“Like in any trustworthy relationship, these are constructive disagreements.”
The Bulldogs have only won one of their previous four games going into their encounter against the Roosters, but they have improved greatly on defense thus far. Their next task will be to establish greater attacking fluidity.
“I believe we’re in much better shape than what 1-3 suggests,” Ciraldo remarked, complimenting halfback Drew Hutchison on his lack of a true No. 7 jersey.
It’s simple to draw conclusions about our performance from those stats and the ladder, but I think we’ve been quite consistent and have made a lot of progress.
“I think the results will come if we demonstrate that consistency, effort, and attitude and keep getting better as we are.”
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