Bulldogs manager Phil Gould has addressed the “sensitive” incident involving an unidentified player and thrown his support behind Cameron Ciraldo’s training philosophy.
Early this week, reports surfaced of a player’s punishment for being late to training: he was reportedly made to wrestle up to twelve of his Canterbury teammates.
There have also been concerns over the length of some training days at Belmore, while a number of players have reportedly expressed their desire to move on at seasons’s end.
With one game remaining in the season, Canterbury are in damage control and have been forced to get on the front-foot to explain some of the recent dramas inside their four walls.
Speaking on the latest episode of Six Tackles With Gus, the club’s general manager of football opened up on the delicate situation involving the anonymous member of the top 30 roster and his absence from Canterbury.
“This is one of those occasions where, as a club, we need to be very measured in our response because there are some very sensitive issues at stake,” Gould said.
“As usual with these things, there are some exaggerations and some embellishments… we are quite comfortable where the position is and we’re certainly very mindful of the mental health and welfare of the player involved.
“It’s not as though he walked out after the event – he was with the club for another week and then decided that he needed to take some. We’ve kept in contact, he’s had the very best of welfare and counselling and support
“My suspicion is that details of that report have been leaked out in some way, shape of form – which is why the media has suddenly seized upon the story.
“If the media has been informed of that, they know how delicate they need to treat this… they certainly can’t be pushing the envelope.”
Gould also denied rumours surrounding Braidon Burns, claiming the off-contract centre has not left the club following a recent hamstring injury and remains on deck until the conclusion of the year.
While the sensitive issue regarding the unnamed player’s absence from the Bulldogs is one of many issues, Gould continued to defend Ciraldo and the coaching staff, admitting there is a long way to go to turn the club around.
“No one has walked out, I can tell you that… certainly no player has complained to us about anything around training or culture,” he said.
“They all work extremely hard and it’s good for the public to understand now how hard they work, because at times when you watch us play, you’d wonder if they did.
“Cameron Ciraldo has at all times defended his coaching style and the type of training we are doing at the Bulldogs and we all support that wholeheartedly.
“We’re strongly in support of the standards we are trying to enforce at the club and the culture that we are trying to create, and turning around what has been a very poor last decade for the Bulldogs.
“It gets hard for some, it gets too hard for others -but the ones that come out the other side are the ones that you want to build your club around.”
Willie Mason slams ‘soft’ Canterbury Bulldogs players
One man who has seen first-hand the changes, highlights and struggles at Canterbury throughout the year is club legend Willie Mason, who is part of the coaching staff on a part-time basis.
The premiership-winning enforcer was quizzed on the recent leaks from inside the squad regarding the training load and believes there will be a number of stars ‘weeded out’ in a bid to find NRL success under Ciraldo’s guidance.
“It’s f*****g soft as s**t… I hate s**t like that. I see what our coaches put together – I know what the schedule is and if you can’t deal with it, you’re not gonna be f*****g there,” he said on Levels Network.
“There’s high standards at the club regardless of what’s happening with where we’re coming on the ladder. There’s no excuses and you’ll get weeded out of the club, because that’s what Ciro wants to do.
“These guys have had a losing mentality there for like five years – it’s a cultural thing, winning and losing, it’s the way to fish them out. If you can’t handle the way the Bulldogs play and train, this is not your f*****g club.
“They’ll find out because if you’re on contract right now and don’t happen to be on the roster next year or if they don’t want you – you’re that dude that they don’t want at the club. The guys that we want there, they will be there.
“It’s gonna take a minute, but you’ve got to tough it out. We’re all in this together – do you think it’s good seeing these young kids go through these losses every single week? It’s heartbreaking as coaches.”
Mason played 148 games for the Bulldogs in a highly-successful stint, lifting the Provan-Summons Trophy in 2004 and earned the Clive Churchill Medal in the narrow win over the Sydney Roosters.
