Cameron Ciraldo has made no apologies for his approach to lifting Canterbury out of the NRL gutter despite an unnamed player walking out of training after being handed a punishment for turning up late.
The player was subjected to a practice known in wrestling circles as “shark bait”, where he had to stand in the middle of a ring and grapple teammates one after another.
The Rugby League Players’ Association is aware of the situation and the player has not featured for the club at NRL level in several weeks. The player’s name has not been publicised due to the delicate nature of the situation.
The player involved is under contract for 2024 at the Bulldogs but is likely to be released in the off-season to continue their career elsewhere.
“It’s a pretty sensitive issue and I won’t be commenting on that one,” Ciraldo said on Wednesday.
Bulldogs coach Cameron Ciraldo. (Photo by Matt King/Getty Images)
“At different times we’ve wanted to put some standards in place and I feel like we have to do something about that.
“We’ve gone through a range of ways of talking upholding standards.
“Some of that’s been monetary related, sometimes that’s been spinning a wheel and then sometimes it’s been trying to find ways to change behaviours.
“The reality is, we need to change behaviours … we’ll continue to find ways where we can change behaviours.”
The unsavoury incident is the latest challenge Ciraldo has had to navigate in his first year in charge of the Bulldogs.
Despite a lavish recruitment drive under general manager Phil Gould and the arrival of Ciraldo, who had been touted as the next great coach in waiting, the Dogs will finish the season in a lowly 15th position even if they score a consolation win over the Titans on the Gold Coast on Sunday.
Canterbury are going through yet another roster overhaul in the off-season with outside back Braidon Burns also looking for the exit after getting limited opportunities this year.
English forward Luke Thompson, halfback Kyle Flanagan, second-rower Corey Waddell and utility Jayden Okunbor are on their way out while Tevita Pangai jnr has retired to pursue a career in boxing.
Panthers star Stephen Crichton is their only big-name recruit for 2024 with Souths utility Blake Taaffe, Penrith’s Jaeman Salmon and former Sharks centre Bronson Xerri, after serving a four-year drugs ban, also coming on board.
The Dogs last made the NRL finals in 2016 and the former Penrith assistant coach has had to contend with scuttlebutt that players are unsatisfied with his methods.
The coach has consistently bemoaned his players’ effort off the ball and said on Wednesday the culture “is not right”.
(Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)
Willie Mason – a club great, who is employed as a pathways transition manager – said on Tuesday the club was attempting to “weed out” players who weren’t willing to aim up for Ciraldo.
Players have complained of being subject to long days at their Belmore HQ, which Ciraldo said was part of being a successful NRL club.
“Nothing comes without hard work, we have one long day a week and if you get the last massage you’re probably leaving at 5.30pm,” Ciraldo said.
“The days were longer at the place I was previously.
“Nobody has come to me and complained about long days, we’ve got a Jersey Flegg (under 21s) group who do weights at 5am, work for 10 hours and come back and do field at 5.30pm.
“We’ve got a leadership group that we meet with every week and you’d like to think if there was some unrest that those guys would have brought it up.”
Hodgson calls time on career
Josh Hodgson has confirmed his rugby league career is over after a recurring neck injury caused him to call time on a swansong with Parramatta.
The 33-year-old said on Wednesday he had been medically retired from the game knowing he gave everything physically and mentally possible.
The 19-cap England international suffered two ACL tears during his time in Australia and required a further reconstruction on his right knee last year.
“It’s probably a blessing because I’ve always tried pushing through when my body was broken and putting my teammates before everything, but it has come at a cost,” Hodgson said.
Hodgson’s career will be remembered for the galvanising effect he had on Canberra after moving to the Australian capital in 2015 from Super League club Hull Kingston Rovers.
(Photo by Mark Evans/Getty Images)
The hooker first came to the attention of NRL fans soon after he signed with the Raiders when, on a tour with England, he was filmed running head first through a students flat door in New Zealand.
It was to be a metaphor for his time in Australia as helped turn Canberra’s fortunes around after years of struggle, leading the team to a preliminary final in 2016 and then captaining them in their 2019 grand final loss.
Hodgson was one of the few English spine players to successfully adapt to the NRL and, in 2020, Peter Sterling claimed that the Yorkshireman had gone close to eclipsing Cameron Smith as the game’s premier hooker.
Unfortunately for Hodgson his remaining time at the Raiders was plagued by injury, and despite finding a home at Parramatta in 2023 he was unable to rekindle that same level of magic.
Whitehead sick of ‘outrageous’ NRL fines
Canberra captain Elliott Whitehead says fines dished out by the NRL’s judiciary are “getting outrageous”, after teammate Jordan Rapana was stung for a third week in a row.
Rapana was slapped with a $3000 fine for an attempted trip on Selwyn Cobbo as the Brisbane winger scored a try in their 29-18 win against the Raiders, despite making minimal contact.
That makes it $9000 worth of fines for Rapana in the last three weeks, hit with separate $3000 penalties for using his knees in a tackle on Canterbury’s Viliame Kikau and for another trip on Melbourne’s Reimis Smith.
Rapana has racked up a $15,000 fine tab to go with eight games worth of suspensions in the last two seasons, Whitehead suggesting monetary penalties for footballing incidents might not be the correct course of action.
“They’re getting a bit outrageous them fines, especially for the one on the weekend, there’s not much in there … to get $3000 again is pretty harsh to be honest,” he said.
“I don’t know what they do with the money they take from you, if you’re taking $9000 off someone, there’s not very much wage left come the end of the month.
“Maybe they have to look at something different there because obviously he’s not learning, he keeps getting fined week in, week out.
“It’s probably hurting him and his family more than anything.”
Some have suggested Rapana’s reputation might have been a determining factor when the bunker intervened and sent him to the sin bin.
Elliott Whitehead. (Photo by Albert Perez/Getty Images)
It couldn’t have come at a more critical time with the Raiders trailing 20-18, Brisbane scoring again to put the game to bed while they had the player advantage.
Whitehead agreed Rapana’s reputation wouldn’t have helped him, but said it still shouldn’t have seen him sent for 10 minutes due to the light contact.
“Maybe, but obviously they looked at it in the bunker and there was nothing in it, if he did touch him, he barely touched him, he still scored the try,” he said.
“It was a big call on the night … it probably didn’t help our momentum when he got sin binned.
“(And) to keep getting fined $3000, it does hurt, I’m sure anybody out there with a normal job got fined three grand (would agree), it hurts.”
with AAP
