NRL 2023: Power play which led to the rising star of NRL coaching, Cameron Ciraldo, heading to Belmore

Wests Tigers’ inability to keep contract talks with Cameron Ciraldo secret, cost them a shot at the in-demand coach. Read the full DEEP DIVE into the Tigers and Bulldogs rebuilds.

Daily Telegraph. 12, October, 2022. New Canterbury Bulldogs coach Cameron Ciraldo, at Belmore, today. Picture: Justin Lloyd.

Canterbury’s major sponsor has revealed that Wests Tigers’ failure to keep secret their talks with Cameron Ciraldo — including the leak of the Tigers’ proposed five-year deal — helped send the coveted coach to the Bulldogs.

Craig Laundy, who negotiated a 10-year sponsorship deal with the Bulldogs that could be worth as much as $16 million, also opened up on his family’s desire to help Ciraldo and his young family become financially secure during their time together.

The Bulldogs will host the Tigers at Belmore Sportsground on Sunday afternoon, the first time the sides have met since Ciraldo made the decision to join Canterbury on a long-term deal.

The Tigers were up to their necks in the hunt for the former Penrith assistant, but their inability to keep the talks in-house helped push Ciraldo to the Bulldogs.

Craig Laundy (right) says the Tigers failure to keep contract talks secret cost them a shot at Cameron Ciraldo (second on the left).

“I knew that Gus (Phil Gould) and John (Khoury) and Aaron (Warburton) had a better plan to offer that he would fit into,” Laundy told News Corp.

“The other thing if you remember at the time, the Tigers story leaked within 24 hours. Ours never leaked. We had given an undertaking.

“We spelt out to him what our future looked like. We said if you are prepared to sign on long term, so are we.

“I know we can add value to Cam in his life away from the field over the coming years. This goes back to the nature of the relationship with Gus.

“When it comes to the football side and who they put as the coach … we have nothing to do with that. But we were of the opinion that we wanted to explain to Cam that the motivation for us is more than football.

“We don’t get involved in the football side, we get involved in the life side. If he was brave enough to come with us, we knew it would be a long term deal and we just wanted to tell him we were planning to be around for a long time …. and we were very keen to make sure that you as an individual are financially secure as quickly as possible.”

The relationship between Ciraldo and the Laundy family — Craig, father Arthur and brother Stu — has been at the centre of the Bulldogs’ quest to revive their flagging fortunes.

The group were famously captured together at one of the Laundy venues when Ciraldo was believed to be still making his call.

Laundy revealed by then, the deal had already been done.

“He texted me and said I am catching up with my father-in-law,” Laundy said.

“He said we are meeting at the Locker Room, we will be finished by 12.30pm, my father-in-law would love to meet you.

“We sat there and spoke politics the whole time. Someone snapped it and they went here it is. Everyone thought it was me trying to woo him.

“The deal was already done.”

The Laundys and Ciraldo have committed for the long haul and the early signs are promising as they prepare for a return to their spiritual home — the club lost in round one but produced a stunning performance in Melbourne as they walloped the Storm in round two.

The Tigers, on the other hand, have looked insipid over the opening fortnight under the coaching of Tim Sheens, Benji Marshall and Robbie Farah — the triumvirate they turned to when Ciraldo knocked them back.

“Cam and I have become mates,” Laundy said.

“We have zero interest in telling him what to do but we want to see the cut of his cloth too. He is an Uber-impressive young bloke.

“I would consider him a friend now over the journey.”

Originally published as NRL 2023: Power play which led to the rising star of NRL coaching, Cameron Ciraldo, heading to Belmore