Canterbury Bulldogs coach Cameron Ciraldo has confirmed the club will look at making more changes as they look to arrest a slide which has seen five losses in the last six outings.
Only a Round 9 win against the St George Illawarra Dragons in Wollongong has seen the Bulldogs able to put stop to the run of losses, and a public spray from Ciraldo after 34 points were conceded last week against the Canberra Raiders wasn’t enough to change fortunes against the Warriors at Homebush on Friday evening.
The Bulldogs fell badly behind early in the contest before ultimately falling 24 points to 12.
Round 11 marks the time where players from outside a club’s top 30 are able to be used, and it appears Ciraldo will waste no time in exploring the fringes of the first-grade squad, starting as soon as next Sunday’s clash – also at Homebush – against the Gold Coast Titans.
“We will look at making changes. There are some guys there on the fringe of our squad that are really putting their hand up. You saw Blake Wilson come in today and he did an outstanding job. This is the first week we have been able to use a guy like Blake because he is outside the top 30 and once you get to Round 11 you can use blokes outside the top 30 and there are a couple more in that boat as well,” Ciraldo said during his post-game press conference.
“It’s a result of performance. Clearly if guys are doing their job in the 17, then you don’t make too many changes. The teams at the top of the table roll out the same 17 each week because everyone is doing their job.
“When you’re in a position where you’re not getting those performances consistently, then I’ve got to look for guys who can provide that performance consistently.
“There are a few guys on the fringe there that now we can use guys outside the Top 30 that we will be looking to bring in.”
The rookie coach, who is now presiding over a team sitting third last on the table (and they could be last by the completion of the round if the St George Illawarra Dragons and Wests Tigers both win against the North Queensland Cowboys and South Sydney Rabbitohs respectively on Saturday), slammed his team’s first half performance.
“The first half wasn’t good enough,” Ciraldo said.
“We talked all week about starting fast and just didn’t get it done.
“Those three tries were just not what we want to be about, but it is what we are at the moment.
“I thought we responded in the second half, we played better in the second half, but it was way too late. We can’t come in, play like that in the first half, wait for half a spray at halftime and then respond in the second half.”
Any changes to Canterbury’s side for the game against the Titans will be announced at 4pm (AEST) on Tuesday afternoon.