Forget Cameron Ciraldo’s cheat sheet. This is why Canterbury are struggling

Cameron Ciraldo walked into one of the more illuminating press conferences of his career on Friday night with an A4-sized cheat sheet of talking points.

He often carries these notes, but rarely referred to them as he shunned the sanctity of the dressing room for a public dressing down of his spluttering side.

This Friday, the Bulldogs feature in the best double-header in recent memory, when Canberra host Penrith in Mudgee and Melbourne does the same with Canterbury straight afterwards.

One of these sides is not like the others. The Storm’s defence has been surprisingly erratic at times this year, but they are surging with Jahrome Hughes set to return for the finals.

Penrith should have beaten Melbourne last week, long before Harry Grant got involved with, and without, the ball. Even in defeat, though, Nathan Cleary and an outright intimidating line speed have the four-time premiers rising at the right time.

Canberra’s next-gen Green Machine is largely untested under finals pressure but flying otherwise.

And the Bulldogs? Ciraldo’s press conference after being bested, battered and bashed by the Roosters was far crankier than at the club’s most recent rock bottom moment – the 66-0 thrashing from Newcastle two years ago.

It’s a telling measure of how far the third-placed Bulldogs have come and how high the bar is now set. Not to mention Ciraldo’s understanding of a true premiership tilt, one learned at Penrith.

The past month has produced two of Canterbury’s best performances (thumping wins over the Warriors and Manly) alongside two of their worst (capitulations to the Tigers and Roosters).

The Roosters loss, a difficult run home and inferior points differential have Canterbury needing an upset of the Storm to secure a top-two finish. Third or fourth will have them playing away from home, not just in week one, but probably for a grand final qualifier too – a massive swing considering the atmosphere 60,000-plus Canterbury fans can generate at Accor Stadium.

So much of the spotlight at Belmore has centred on Lachlan Galvin’s arrival and usurping of Toby Sexton at No.7. Galvin wasn’t great against the Roosters. No Bulldog was.

But Ciraldo wasn’t wrong when he noted “everyone was pissing in our pocket last week”, this masthead included, when asked about whether his spine’s cohesion has figured in Canterbury’s wildly inconsistent showings of late.

Ciraldo didn’t miss with “when the intensity went up, a few guys didn’t want to go with it” as Roosters Naufahu Whyte, Spencer Leniu and Victor Radley went after the Bulldogs forwards and flat-out bashed them.

A hallmark of the Bulldogs’ rise has been mastering the all-important yardage battle with a mobile pack and scrambling defence.

Restricting opposition sides to around 1300 running metres over the past two seasons while rattling up their own has been Canterbury’s hallmark – and yielded a telling 270-metre advantage on average in 2025.

Run-metres per play-the-ball – both in attack and defence – has emerged as one of rugby league’s most accurate win-loss metrics.

Canterbury’s record of winning just one game this year when the opposition has run for more metres is nothing unusual in the NRL. Neither is their 14-3 record when winning the yardage game.

But just as North Queensland and Manly’s bigger packs flattened the Bulldogs late last year, Canterbury’s smaller forward pack is under the microscope once again.

Ciraldo pointed to his squad depth when he lamented carrying a few busted players through the training week into games.

“If we don’t want to prepare to win, then I’ll put someone in who does want to prepare to win,” he fumed.

Winger Marcelo Montoya’s expected return from a neck injury would bring much-needed grunt coming out of trouble. When he hasn’t been injured or suspended, Sitili Tupouniua (due back from ongoing hamstring issues) has played with the intensity that was missing against the Roosters.

Daniel Suluka-Fifita and Kurtis Morrin are other options up front. Jake Turpin’s mention by Ciraldo as an alternative hooking/utility option raised eyebrows given Bailey Hayward has already moved to dummy-half and forced Reed Mahoney to the bench.

Meanwhile, taking on Melbourne in Melbourne is one of the toughest tasks in the NRL.

Storm forwards Stefano Utoikamanu, Eliesa Katoa, Tui Kamikamica, Shawn Blore and Trent Loiero all stand between 188 and 193 centimetres, and tip the scales between 106 and 111 kilos. Nelson Asofa-Solomona towers over all of them, and he returned via reserve grade this weekend, too.

The Bulldogs will need intensity and then some to wrangle them. Either side of an uncomfortable Monday review and Wednesday’s main training session, Ciraldo’s team list on Tuesday will be even more intriguing than his press conference cheat sheet.

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