NRL 2023: Listen to Phil Gould’s shrewd plan which lured Cameron Ciraldo to Bulldogs

In a crafty act of reverse psychology, Phil Gould reveals his shrewd plan to lure the hottest young coach in the game to the Bulldogs.

In a shrewd act of reverse psychology, Canterbury general manager Phil Gould has revealed he initially warned off Cameron Ciraldo from coaching at Belmore – telling the coach-in-waiting to remain at Penrith.

Gould advised Ciraldo it would be “easier” to remain at the Panthers rather than endure “a trip down the mines” at Belmore.

The ploy worked, with a clearly taunted Ciraldo calling the next day to tell Gould: “If it’s going to be difficult then I want to get into the fight.”

Ciraldo is now just over a week away from debuting in the NRL as head coach.

Talking at Canterbury’s season launch inside a marquee on Belmore Sports Ground, Gould also claimed his Bulldogs would return to being the “number one” club in rugby league.

For the first time, Gould disclosed how he managed to secure rising coach Ciraldo.

“I was in no hurry to go and out recruit a coach because Mick Potter was here, one of our great legends doing a great job towards the back-end of last year and we were only starting out on a long, hard road - it’s going to be difficult journey over the next few years,” Gould said.

Cameron Ciraldo. Picture: NRL

“There were rumblings about Cameron Ciraldo being approached by a number of clubs to leave the Panthers, where he has been mightily successful over the last decade.

“All I did was ring him and said: ‘Look, if there ever comes a day where you think you’re going to leave Penrith, then look no further than the Bulldogs’.

“That’s all I said to him. I never offered him a job. A few weeks later, he rang me and said: ‘Can we talk?’

“I said ‘yeah, I can (one day) come down’ and he said: ‘What do you mean ‘one day’, why not now’?

LISTEN TO GOULD’S CIRALDO SIGNING TALE IN THE PLAYER ABOVE

“I said: ‘Well, it’s going to be tough for a couple of years (at Canterbury). It will be a trip down the mines – this isn’t going to be glamorous and it will be a lot of hard work and this club will be in much better shape sometime into the future.’

“(I said) you might have another couple of premierships to win there at Panthers and you can do it a lot easier out there with the great team that you’ve got.

“He rang me the next morning and said: ‘If it’s going to be difficult then I want to get into the fight – and I want to do it straight away’. We are so lucky to have him. I’m really looking forward to the journey ahead over the next few years.”

Ciraldo is preparing his side for a round one blockbuster against Manly on Saturday week at 4 Pines Park.

While the journey may be arduous and lengthy, Gould has promised fans his club will be back at rugby league’s premier club.

“The Bulldogs are the number one club and I promise we will be number one again,” Gould said.

“I know the journey is going to be tough and I know we are all going to have to work hard. There are going to be some good days and some tough days.

“At the very elite level, you’ve got to have that mongrel in you, that desire, that heart and that want and we know what mongrel is called here – it’s called Bulldogs.”

Gould – criticised for excessive spending - has built a remarkable team on and off the field.

Canterbury GM Phil Gould. Picture: Mark Kolbe/Getty

“The last 12 months has been a mission of discovery and we were able to sit down with the board and say: ‘If we’re going to build a future for this club and a future of sustained success, we need high performance coaching, high performance, our best practice in high performance, best practice in medical to look after these players, best practice in recruitment, to scour the world and get the best available, and the best practice in turning these young fellas into Bulldogs and great NRL players in their own right,” Gould said.

“And they (the club’s board) haven’t spared a cent in trying to do that and have supported us all the way through. Anyone that has been here for any amount of time, you’re always a Bulldog. We are all part of one family.

“The NRL is no place for the faint-hearted – it’s not for everyone. It’s a test each and every week. That scoreboard means something every weekend and we are all affected by that scoreboard.”

Originally published as NRL 2023: Listen to Phil Gould’s shrewd plan which lured Cameron Ciraldo to Bulldogs