No NRL team is in more desperate need of a turnaround in fortunes than Canterbury.
Once almost automatic contenders in the final, the blue and whites have failed to see playoff action in the past six seasons with an average ladder position of 13th during that stretch which includes a rare wooden spoon in 2021 and an embarrassing win rate of just 29%.
After only missing the finals on four occasions in the NRL era prior to 2017, Canterbury have subsequently been led by six coaches, with new mentor Cameron Ciraldo the latest the take the reins.
In true form, the fans have stuck solid and the return of Phil Gould to the club appears to have been critical in attracting the swathe of quality recruits that the coach hopes will gel into a solid unit.
While excitement builds at Belmore with the arrivals of Reed Mahoney, Ryan Sutton and Viliame Kikau; joining an already star-studded squad that features Josh Addo-Carr, Matt Burton, Tevita Pangai jnr and Luke Thompson, the assembling of what now looks a group ready to grow into a force over the next two seasons has taken plenty of hard work and patience.
Matt Burton. (Photo by Matt King/Getty Images)
Bulldogs chair John Khoury is perfect for a job requiring both. He’s quietly spoken, driven and open to challenges – Khoury was at the club in the toughest of times and now, along with Gould and CEO Aaron Warburton, around 30 months of hard work are about to pay dividends.
When the payoff will take the form of a ninth Canterbury premiership is unclear, yet the word inside the kennel is that things have certainly changed and the club has positioned itself for a lengthy period of success.
Speaking with Khoury and asking him what structural changes had been made revealed how they have left no stone unturned in their rebuild.
“The strength of our club has always been its people, my role has been to ensure that the club is armed with the best available and then give them with the resources required for success. Aaron has been instrumental in securing up the financial components, attracting new and exciting sponsors and partners and hiring quality and daring individuals to a variety of roles within the club,” he said.
“As a club board, our decision making process has been robust and transparent, something that has forged a team environment and created shared common goals of success on the field and respectful representation of the fans for whom we play.”
Khoury, like most club chairs, is tough to pin down and rarely still for more than a minute, yet ask him about the feeling and spirit in the club at present and his speech quickens with passion and genuine emotion.
“Gus has been simply amazing since arriving at the club. He is one of the hardest working people I’ve ever met and his rugby league brain is unquestioned, yet his ability to connect with players on a human level and see the pathways required at Canterbury in order to establish sustained success built from within, is simply visionary.
That vision was something I have driven since joining the board and one also shared by our new coach.”
After forging his reputation as an assistant at Penrith under Ivan Cleary as they surged to the past two premierships, Ciraldo steps into the top job at the Dogs with the challenging task of producing better on-field performances in quick time.
Cameron Ciraldo. (Photo by Ian Hitchcock/Getty Images)
Khoury said the coach was handling the pressures of expectation.
“Cameron has been brilliant since arriving at the club. Like many of the best coaches in the game, he looks at performance as far more than just the completion of drills and pushing players to the edge physically,” he said.
“His keenness to get to know his players and what really makes them tick has been obvious, and his dealings with the board and club staff have also been positive and tinged with the same effort to connect on more than just a football level.
“As a club, we are thrilled to have one of the youngest and most innovative coaches in the NRL.”
Khoury, Gould and Warburton have made plenty of hard decisions and the departure of former coach Trent Barrett required plenty of open and frank discussion. However, when it became clear the re-establishment of the Bulldogs brand needed to occur with a different coach, the three made the call that was best for the club’s future.
“My goal has always been to see the Bulldogs back, but in a new, modern and exciting form. Our women’s teams are an important part of that, as are the roles being undertaken by ex-players and Bulldog legends like Willie Mason,” Khoury added.
“As a board, we believe that the pieces are finally in place for Cameron to have the team competing in the finals quickly, and with Stephen Crichton and Bronson Xerri arriving in 2024, the next two years look very exciting for the club.”
Canterbury, as many other clubs have experienced, hit rock-bottom before slowly taking the required steps to build back to competitiveness.
Khoury has been at the helm for much of that process and even if Ciraldo does take a little time to get his squad humming, the work done in the background looks likely to have the Dogs back in the hunt sooner rather than later.
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