‘Rather die on my feet than live on my knees’: Behind the rise of Ciraldo’s ‘hustlers’

Sitting in the stands at Belmore Sportsground moments after a punter walked into the facility with his 2014 grand final T-shirt on, a long neck in his hand and some stern words, Cameron Ciraldo turns and smiles.

“Welcome to Belmore,” he says. Not in a derogatory manner, but with a sense of pride in the unique characteristics of the people and region his team represents.

It’s an area Ciraldo has placed extreme emphasis on getting to know, despite going to school nearby. He’ll tell you how in the early 1900s timber cutters formed the bulk of the profession in the Canterbury-Bankstown area.

He resonated with a region built on the back of hard work, grit and determination. An area that became the home of migrant communities searching for an opportunity for a better life. A journey many of the players in the Bulldogs team can relate to.

Bulldogs coach Cameron Ciraldo.Credit: Louie Douvis

In the off season, the Bulldogs were ridiculed. Ciraldo and general manager Phil Gould were mocked from large sections of the rugby league fraternity for signing a team full of utilities and journeymen sprinkled, of course, with a light dose of superstar in the form of Stephen Crichton.

“I might have heard a bit about that,” Ciraldo says with a straight face as his team sits on the cusp of the top four heading into final stretch of the regular season.

“We’re really inspired by the teams of the past – ‘The Entertainers’ and the ‘Dogs of War’ – but we weren’t going to be those teams. We couldn’t live up to that. We had to find our own identity, and these guys just decided they just wanted to hustle and work hard together. We knew we weren’t going to be the biggest forward pack going around, so we were going to be the hardest working.

“The Entertainers and the Dogs of War is something our club is really proud of, and it’s a really important piece of our history. That sort of success leaves clues, but it was important to find our own identity. It took us the first few rounds to find out what worked best for us and how we wanted to play. It became pretty clear after that what it looked like for us – and that’s to hustle harder than any other team.”

The hustlers, as they now call themselves, is a fitting representation of the working-class community they represent.

Canterbury fans were out in force before the 2012 grand final.Credit: Fairfax

A community that, up until this season, had somewhat fallen out of love with their football team over the best part of the last decade thanks to some uninspiring performances.

They continued in Ciraldo’s first year, leading many Canterbury fans to question the credentials of the coach previously touted as the hottest property on the market.

“I spoke to my kids before about that if I take this job, this is what is going to happen,” Ciraldo said.

“At times people are going to say things and you’re going to hear things, but as long as you know who your dad is and you understand what I’m trying to do, you don’t have to listen to that stuff.

“I was saying that to them, but I had to remind myself of that [last year]. I understood that as much as people want to talk you up. At some stage, they’re going to talk you down as well. That’s what we sign up for. It’s part of the job.”

But the questions of Ciraldo weren’t just coming externally. They were filtering through a playing group that, through their actions – or lack thereof – weren’t entirely invested into a regime that was yielding the same results as the failed rebuilds before him.

The 2023 campaign couldn’t end quick enough for Cameron Ciraldo’s Canterbury.Credit: Getty

“It’s disappointing how we finished last year but it also provided us with a blueprint moving forward of where we wanted to go, what we wanted to do and who we wanted to bring on the journey,” Ciraldo said.

“Our depth was tested, our culture was tested and it uncovered some stuff. We realised we needed to make a lot of change. Lucky we had everyone in the club and the board supporting us, and you’re starting to see the fruits of that now.

“I don’t want to go too deep because it’s in the past now, but just some old habits and beliefs needed change, and to do that we needed to bring some people in who knew what winning looked like and wanted to work hard and work together. The guys we’ve been able to recruit have had a massive say in the change of culture around here, and I’ll forever be indebted to them.”

A number of players have left the building over the past 12 months. None more controversially than Jackson Topine, who has commenced legal proceedings against the Bulldogs over an incident last year in which he alleges he was punished for reporting late to training and was allegedly told to wrestle between 30 to 35 of his teammates.

The training session has been described in Topine’s statement of claim as a “deprivation of liberty” and “unlawful corporal punishment”, leading to claims that Topine suffered “psychiatric injury” and “physical and mental impairment” as a result.

Ciraldo was caught in the crosshairs, but the belief in his methodology and philosophy hasn’t wavered.

Cameron Ciraldo on his way into Bulldogs training on the day his club was served a statement of claim from Jackson Topine’s lawyer.Credit: Nick Moir

“I knew what we were doing was right,” he said when asked of criticism of his approach to transforming the club’s soft underbelly.

“I knew we had to work hard to make change. I’d seen it work previously [at Penrith] so I knew what it looked like and knew where we were going with it. I’d rather live on my feet than die on my knees, so I was going to do what I believed in.”

That included the implementation of a defensive structure that proved so successful for Penrith during Ciraldo’s tenure at the foot of the mountains but resulted in Canterbury finishing his first season in charge as the worst defensive unit in the competition.

Ciraldo’s system, built on repeated effort and maximum workload, hasn’t changed. Yet 12 months later the Bulldogs head into round 20 of the premiership ranked second in points conceded, albeit missing more tackles than any other team in the competition.

“Defence is culture, and it was painful last year,” Ciraldo said.

“I knew we had a good defensive system and I knew it held up under pressure but the reality was we were the worst defensive team in the comp by a long way. That was my first true test of holding my nerve and sticking to what you believe in, and I’m glad we did.”

Cameron Ciraldo fronts the media after recent reports of a player quitting after a punishment in training.Credit: Kate Geraghty

When it comes to season-defining moments, there’s arguably few more significant for the Bulldogs – and hooker Reed Mahoney – than the round one loss to Parramatta at CommBank Stadium.

In the video session following the aftermath of their disappointing 26-8 loss to the Eels, Ciraldo showed his players a bunch of clips of them being bullied and no one sticking up for each other.

They were questioned as to why Eels forward Joe Ofahengaue was able to smash his shoulder and elbow into the back of pint-sized fullback Blake Taafe without any repercussions for his actions.

Why Clint Gutherson was able to hit prop Max King off the ball without a Bulldogs player leaping to their teammates’ defence.

“Reed took that personally,” Ciraldo said.

“We said that’s a line in the sand moment. No one is going to push us over any more. We’re going to be there to support your mate and stand up for each other, and Reed has done that.

Reed Mahoney has been into the opposition all year.Credit: Getty

“Last year was really tough for him, to have the captaincy for the first time. He took the brunt of a lot of those losses on his shoulders and it hurt him. You could see it hurting him every week. He’s come back as the best version of himself. He’s copped a lot of flak in the media around sticking up for his teammates and being a pest. All he’s doing is doing what’s best for the team. He’s not going to take a backward step and we love him.”

Mahoney has handled the stripping of the captaincy with class, recognising the leadership qualities of new recruit Stephen Crichton demanded his elevation to skipper.

There’s been no bigger driver of the standards Ciraldo expects from his team than Crichton, who is arguably the best buy of any club in 2024 for his contribution off the field as much as on it.

“I don’t know what else I can say about Stephen,” Ciraldo said.

Stephen Crichton has been a revelation for the Bulldogs.Credit: NRL Photos

“He’s so influential, so important to what we do here. I just trust him so much as a person and as a player. I just know with him leading our team, he just knows exactly what I want it to look like. We believe in a lot of the same things. I’m just so glad he chose to come here, and I can’t wait to see the impact he has here for the rest of his career.

“We’re blessed Stephen chose to come here. His first week here was straight into an army camp. He walked into that army camp, took hold of the group and told them exactly where to go, what to do, how we were going to do it together and just kept the energy together the whole time. Straight away I just thought ‘wow’. I’ve never seen anyone have that impact straight away. Leadership is about getting people to follow you, and he had people following him straight away.”

Inside a Lebanese restaurant at Brighton le Sands almost two years ago, Ciraldo sat with his agent George Mimis to discuss a five-year deal on the table at the Wests Tigers.

Before they could finish their kafta and hummus, Ciraldo and Mimis received separate text messages almost simultaneously from Gould.

Bulldogs supremo Phil Gould after Trent Barrett was moved on by the club.Credit: Getty

Knowing that Ciraldo was weighing up a massive offer from the Tigers, Gould threw his hat in the ring and requested a meeting if Ciraldo was ready to walk away from his role as an assistant coach at Penrith.

Gould outlined the challenges that were ahead for the Bulldogs, refusing to sugarcoat the scale of the task that lay ahead for whoever was to become Trent Barrett’s successor at Canterbury – even suggesting that Ciraldo wait it out for 12 months before joining the Bulldogs.

“What was I going to do, sit around and wait for 12 months and watch from the outside?” he said.

“I couldn’t have done that. I would have done my own head in. It wouldn’t have been fair to whoever I was working with at the time too. If I was going to do it, I had to come straight away, and I’m glad I did.”

Bulldogs players mob Matt Burton after his match-winning field goal last month.Credit: Getty Images

Ciraldo is honest when it comes to the influence of the much-maligned Gould. Does he put a target on your back by association? “Probably,” Ciraldo responds. “Some of his tweets put a target on our back,” he then jokes.

“But Gus can do things that others can’t do. It was important for me. I’m only young; I don’t know it all. I needed people there with experience and have seen things before. That is why Gus is so good for me. He’s been good for me for a long time. I’m really lucky and grateful.

“I’ve known Gus a long time and most of what I know about footy has probably come from him. I trust him. We don’t always see eye to eye on everything and we can have heated debates at times but we can talk two hours later and move on. That’s part of being in a healthy relationship.”

But what about the team? Doesn’t Gus pick the team?

“If he was picking the team, I’d be getting him to drop them too,” he fires back.

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