By Dan Walsh
As the minister of defence for the chocolate soldiers, Cameron Ciraldo oversaw Penrith’s dynasty-defining defensive line – one of the toughest to crack in rugby league history.
He’s taken the same system behind four consecutive Panthers premierships to Belmore, drilled it into a mobile and committed side and stuck to script all the while.
When asked about a breakout attacking performance from the Bulldogs, their 42-4 shellacking of Manly and Lachlan Galvin’s role in said shellacking last Sunday, Ciraldo still turned straight away to his young halfback’s defence.
Which might just be where Canterbury’s attack starts.
The clunky offensive efforts might resurface against the Tigers on Sunday, particularly where Galvin is concerned, given the spotlight and pressure on him against the club he walked out on. The man of the moment was a teenager just two weeks ago.
But before the Bulldogs rattled up seven tries on the Sea Eagles at Allianz Stadium, they absorbed a physical assault from Matt Lodge, Jazz Tevaga and company.
Minister for defence: Cameron Ciraldo.Credit: James Brickwood
It wasn’t quite Penrith-esque, but Manly hit hard and often. And the Bulldogs responded with offloads and second-phase play, just as the few teams who troubled the Panthers during Ciraldo’s time did.
Canterbury’s 10 first-half offloads and a near-perfect first-half (their first mistake didn’t come until the 36th minute) took the sting out of Manly as Matt Burton ran straight and often and Galvin played a deft hand.
When Penrith lost just eight games across the 2020, ’21 and ’22 seasons (they were that good) with Ciraldo commanding their defence, Parramatta pinched three of those wins.
Two more games they lost by the barest of margins – one- and two-point defeats.
The Eels’ “offload to change of angle” game plan and Mitchell Moses’ booming boot unsettled Ciraldo’s defence more than any other tactic, even if Parramatta were duly poleaxed in the 2022 grand final.
A glutton’s 56 per cent share of possession against Manly saw the Bulldogs throw 21 offloads and 320 passes on Sunday afternoon, skewing their recent numbers along with the involvement of Burton and Galvin.
Between them, Canterbury’s halves handled the ball 139 times – most top halves touch the ball 50-60 times a game – and skinned the Sea Eagles as they did so.
Given the Bulldogs boast small forwards with ball-playing skills like Kurt Mann, Bailey Haywood and Jaeman Salmon, Burton and Galvin can tap into their running strengths with less concern about the ball getting wide if they’re not the ones directing traffic.
The Bulldogs’ short passing, fast-moving attack shifted several gears when running downhill against Manly.
Ciraldo said afterwards that Canterbury’s offloads weren’t particularly premeditated, more a product of “playing with freedom” after he had tweaked his game plan just two days out from kickoff.
Stephen Crichton said those tweaks revolved around simplifying the Bulldogs’ playmaking roles, other players pointed to adjusting attacking shapes on shift plays.
Whatever Canterbury landed on, it worked.
Their ball movement went into overdrive, just as it did a month earlier when pushing uphill against Ciraldo’s old side, in an 8-6 loss to Penrith that was the best game of 2025, State of Origins included.
Lachlan Galvin is showing promise at the Bulldogs scrumbase.Credit: Getty Images
Against the Panthers and the defensive system that Ciraldo piloted, Canterbury threw 297 passes and 17 offloads. Game management in the final few clutch moments, as much as anything, proved the difference.
“Offload to change of angle” is as good a way as any to stretch an elite defence, and Ciraldo has regularly pointed to honing Canterbury’s attack with the finals in mind – where elite defence reigns.
To put the Bulldogs’ ball movement in context, the NRL average is 247 passes and 9.4 offloads per game.
As the Bulldogs’ offloads went to hand and Manly’s defence was dragged this way and that, Canterbury unfurled an attack that could beat any NRL opposition.
For the past 18 months, you could say that about their defence. This was the first time you’d dream that way with the ball in blue and white hands, though the true test will come with time. Manly’s unreliable form makes them an unreliable barometer.
After Galvin’s own personal grudge match against the Tigers, sterner defences await in the Warriors, Roosters (though they too possess Manly’s inconsistency) and Storm.
Then comes Penrith in round 26, finishing fast with a last-to-fifth-straight title fairytale just waiting to be told, with the defensive system Ciraldo holds so dear.
By that point, we might see how close he has come to cracking it.
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