Bulldogs coach Cameron Ciraldo has admitted his “disappointment” in his side’s performance in the 34-30 loss to the Raiders, stating too many players were “looking for shortcuts.”
While the Dogs only lost by a margin of four points, Ciraldo believed the “scoreboard flattered us”
The loss is Canterbury-Bankstown’s fourth in five games, and drops them to 13th on the ladder.
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On the back of a penalty try in their favour with three minutes to go to bring the margin to four, Ciraldo’s men had possession late and a chance to win the game, but “didn’t nail that either” according to the coach.
“The fact we had a chance there at the end, well we didn’t deserve that,” Ciraldo said in his post-match press conference.
“We didn’t really nail it at the end when we did have a chance.
“Raiders were much better than us. They outcompeted us on every level.
“We were so far away from it and that was right from the first whistle. I’m disappointed.”
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The Bulldogs missed a whooping 35 tackles compared to the Raiders’ 13 and committed four more errors, only completing 77% of their sets.
The first 25 minutes of the game was particularly ugly, as they fell into a 22-6 hole.
While they were able to get back into the contest, Ciraldo was scathing of the way his side started the game, alluding that the effort was not where it needed to be.
“I can’t put it down to one thing … There’s too many people not doing their job,” Ciraldo said
.
“To come out and start the game the way we did, yeah, terrible.
“We’ve shown we can do it (start games well). We want to build a winning culture and that means 17 players turn up.
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“Too many soft options, too many guys looking for shortcuts.
“We shouldn’t be outcompeted. A lot of people were off tonight.”
Captain Reed Mahoney was also critical of the Bulldogs’ beginning to the game.
“We completely missed the jump. If you put 30 on the board, you should win the game,” Mahoney said.
“That first 25 minutes of the game was not appropriate.”
