Shire boy Cameron Ciraldo out to end Cronulla’s season as Panthers battle Sharks in semi-final
AS a teenager, Cameron Ciraldo sold Big League magazines on the hill at Shark Park. The Shire boy will on Friday night plot Cronulla’s downfall when the Panthers tackle the Sharks at Allianz Stadium.
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AS a teenager, Cameron Ciraldo sold Big League magazines on the hill at Shark Park.
“I remember one game,’’ Ciraldo said.
“It was in 2002, the day the Sharks pumped the Knights on a Sunday afternoon.
“Paul Mellor scored a try where he just kept palming off Anthony Quinn.
“I was selling Big League’s while trying to watch the game.’’
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The home ground of Cronulla is also where, in the under-13s with St Josephs — a junior footy club in the Sutherland Shire — Ciraldo won his first of three junior league grand finals.
His mum, Kelly, was cleaning out her garage last week when she came across a photo of Ciraldo smiling as a premiership-winning captain with his ‘Joeys’ teammates.
The Sharkies Leagues Club is in the background.
“They were good times. I was playing five-eighth,’’ Ciraldo said.
“We played Como, the gun team. That was the first time we’d beaten them.’’
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Because on Friday night at Allianz Stadium, the boy who fell in love with footy on the hill in the Shire, made his NRL debut for Cronulla and calls Paul Gallen his mate, is out to crush the Sharks 2018 season.
The Penrith Panthers head coach is the fairytale story of the finals series.
Just 33, Ciraldo is four years younger than Gallen, three years younger than Luke Lewis and just 16 months older than Penrith’s wily five-eighth James Maloney.
The Italian international has no idea if he’ll be coaching Penrith next year although a win on Friday night against Cronulla will surely give him a good enough clue.
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Not that the father of five is stressed about what lies ahead.
“I never really envisaged myself coaching,’’ said Ciraldo, who lives 15 minutes from Penrith Stadium.
“Russ Aitken (former Sharks and Melbourne five-eighth) and me, we always said when we finish playing we’ll go back and try and coach SG Ball at Cronulla.
“The actual plan was that he coach and just come round and help.
“We used to talk about that when we were playing and that’s as far as I thought it would go.
“But I’ve been pretty lucky with the way it’s worked out.’’
Ciraldo, a Balmain Tigers fan as a kid, said he was one of the first to text message Gallen following the Sharks’ 2016 premiership.
And it’s with that thought Ciraldo admits he’s driven to achieve the same dream for Penrith in 2018.
“I still talk to Gal, we’re good friends althought I haven’t heard from him this week,’’ Ciraldo said.
“But we normally catch up at the end of the year and I was happy as anyone for him, when he won the comp a couple of years ago.
“I’ve still got a soft spot for the Sharks when you’re not playing against them, but for us this week it’s definitely about making sure we get our preparation right and put our best foot forward.
“We’ve been in this position a couple of times over the last few years and I just want to try and go one step further, it doesn’t matter who we’re playing.
“I know what it meant to the people of the Shire when the Sharks won in 2016 and it would be identical for the people of Penrith.
“Hopefully it can be our turn this time.’’
Originally published as Shire boy Cameron Ciraldo out to end Cronulla’s season as Panthers battle Sharks in semi-final
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