“I could see the potential, it’s a proud club with a proud history,” he said. Excited to take on the Bulldogs’ top job, Ciraldo says the club has lots of potential and “if everyone pulls together in the same direction, good things will come”.
Having left Penrith after back-to-back premierships, he’s looking forward to what’s ahead – “there’s a lot of hard work to be done – and if we become tougher as a group, we will get what we deserve”.
But says he’s not going to cut and paste everything that was at Penrith and try and bring it to the Bulldogs.
Having admired the Bulldogs for a long time, Ciraldo says there’s a lot of good people at the club but for now, he’s just trying to understand what the Bulldogs are about and absorb as much of that culture and history as he can before training begins next month.
He said he “asked a lot of questions and sat on it for a long time” before deciding to head to Belmore.
“It just felt right,” he said.
He said Bulldogs General Manager of Football, Gus Gould, was a big factor in his decision.
“Gus was a big factor, I’ve known him for a long time, I know how he works, I’ve got a good relationship with him and confident he could help me as a young coach,” he said.
“There are a lot of other good people throughout the club.
“They have a really good coaching staff, they’ve been working hard behind the scenes.
“I’m not going to cut and paste everything that was at Penrith and try and bring it to the Bulldogs.”
Bulldogs interim coach Mick Potter will work alongside Ciraldo as an assistant coach “on the attack side of things”.
New Bulldogs coach Ciraldo’s excited to unleash proud pack
THE Bulldogs new Head Coach Cameron Ciraldo said his move to Belmore “just felt right”.