Bulldogs coach Cameron Ciraldo couldn’t resist a cheeky dig at two try hero Bronson Xerri after he returned from two Viliame Kikau boots to his face to inspire his side to a 42-4 win over Manly.
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Xerri was split open in two places and broke his noise after copping not one but two boots from Kikau in some friendly fire, but he returned to be one of three players to score doubles in the big win.
“I was worried about Bronson because he’s a bit worried about his looks at times and the nose I was a bit worried how he’d go with that, but tough,” Ciraldo said.
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“Really happy with how he came back and got on with a broken nose.”
There was no shortage of stars for the Bulldogs with Matt Burton running for 200 metres and Connor Tracey having a stormer at the back, but Ciraldo was just glad it wasn’t obvious who was the best on ground.
“I think the great thing is it’s not obvious who our best player was,” Ciraldo said.
“The great thing was everyone played their role and then we get a team performance like that, and that’s what we’ve been really trying to build towards.
“When everyone plays their role and does their job, we’re a strong team.”
Playing just his second game at halfback Lachlan Galvin impressed his coach with his defence, but he knows he will get better, as will the team with more time together.
“He will definitely get a lot better,” Ciraldo said.
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“Some of the stuff we changed a couple of days ago and for him to go out there and play the way he did, I was really happy with it.
“But I was much happier with how he defended to be honest. He’s done a lot of work on his defence and he did a really good job with that tonight and his attack came on the back of that.”
Bulldogs skipper Stephen Crichton revealed the Bulldogs adopted a more simple game plan to get the best out of their spine and unlock their strike players out wide.
“I think just making it more simple for our spine,” Crichton said of the changes.
“Like coach said, just each player in the team knowing their role, and that probably starts with the spine.
“Without a connected spine, the boys out wide don’t get the ball, so just making it a bit more simple and just making sure that everyone knows their role, so a couple of days ago, just simplified it even more.
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“And there were still probably some questions there, too, but to come out like that and stay connected and get our game plan on, credit to the boys, but we are just building for the end of the year.”
Ciraldo was happy with his side’s attack, but still feels it is a work in progress.
“We’ve been seeing that at training for the last few weeks and seeing what those guys can do,” Ciraldo said.
“And we adjusted our air attack two days before the game, and what we were doing wasn’t really working, so I think it worked well tonight.”
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Despite the scoreline, Ciraldo believes it was a finals type start to the game and his team passed that test with flying colours.
“Yes, a lot of good things, a really high quality game, especially at the start,” Ciraldo said.
“I thought it was really good intensity. Both teams going toe to toe there and just happy, a lot of the work we’ve been doing at training behind the scenes in preparation, just came out a little bit today.”
The Bulldogs came up with a staggering 22 offloads, but Ciraldo denied it was a focus, despite being happy with his side’s intent and positive attitude.
“No, not really, I love that we played with that freedom though,” Ciraldo said.
“They just felt it and did it, weren’t afraid of going after the contest, so we definitely didn’t want to play tight.
“We wanted to play with freedom and it was good that it sort of came out with the offloads, I suppose.”
