Cameron Ciraldo Left Fuming as Broncos Stun Misfiring Bulldogs with Thrilling Comeback

Cameron Ciraldo, the Bulldogs coach, expressed his frustration after witnessing his team’s 18-0 lead slip away, resulting in a narrow 22-18 loss to the Broncos on Friday night.

During the post-match press conference, Ciraldo refrained from revealing who would fill the halves for the next week, following the late inclusion of Lachlan Galvin in the starting lineup alongside Toby Sexton.

This strategic change shifted Matt Burton to centre, raising concerns about Galvin’s fit within the team, particularly after the pairing of Burton and Sexton had propelled the Bulldogs to second place on the NRL ladder.

Although Galvin assisted in one try during the first half, he struggled with his passing, and the team failed to find the decisive edge they needed to secure victory.

Ciraldo elaborated on his reasoning for selecting Galvin as five-eighth.

“At the moment, we’re a bit short on numbers, especially with Kiraz stepping into 18th man for the Blues,” Ciraldo explained.

“We initially planned for Burton to be the 18th man again, but with Kiraz’s shift, it left us short in the outside backs, and Burton has filled that role on numerous occasions before.”

“Our intention was to utilise both players at times in either five-eighth or centre, but Burton suggested it would be simpler for him to play centre, and he performed well in the first half, so everything flowed smoothly.”

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When questioned if Galvin’s first-half performance guaranteed him a starting position next week, Ciraldo replied:

“I haven’t yet looked beyond tonight’s game.”

“We need to analyse our performance, and while there were positive aspects from the first half, there are lessons to be learned.”

“I’m just frustrated we didn’t learn from our previous match. We were expected to improve on our performance this week in areas that we worked on throughout training.”

He continued: “I don’t believe our attack has reached its full potential at any point this year.

“Like many clubs, we’re trying to uncover what truly works. We’ve had a lot of changes to our back row, which contributes to this uncertainty, so we’re still on this journey.”

“We have around nine or ten weeks to find our rhythm, but as I’ve mentioned, we must learn our lessons quickly.”

“We didn’t take the lessons from last week into this match, which is what leaves me feeling displeased.”

Ciraldo conceded that the Bulldogs were guilty of chasing the decisive play too eagerly, emphasising the need for greater patience.

“I think we forced things too much at times.

“The Broncos defended strongly at the start of the second half, and while we had some possession, we needed to keep applying pressure and play the field position game, yet we didn’t do that.

“We attempted to force the issue, which probably played into their advantage.”