‘What the f--- was that?’ Teammates shocked over wrestling punishment but Gus backs Ciraldo’s hardline approach

Canterbury teammates have detailed how shocked they were over the punishment dished out to a player who has since left the club.

An NRL squad member walked away from the team for the final month of the season after he was subjected to a punishment known as “shark bait” for being late to training. 

He was forced to wrestle on his knees most of the other members of the top 30 squad.

Amid the furore surrounding coach Cameron Ciraldo’s hardline methods, Canterbury general manager Phil Gould has backed the rookie mentor. 

Gould said on his Nine Network podcast that Ciraldo’s hard edge was needed given the Bulldogs’ dismal displays this year. 

“We’re the worst team in the competition right now and have been for some time,” Gould said on Six Tackles With Gus. 

Canterbury general manager Phil Gould. (Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)

“The coach and the staff are certainly making no apologies for the intensity with which they train.”

The Rugby League Players’ Association is aware of the situation involving the unnamed player, who has not featured for the club at NRL level in several weeks.

Bulldogs teammates spoke on the condition of anonymity to NewsCorp to express their surprise at the harsh treatment.

 “It was a knee wrestle where you’ve got to get your opponent onto their back,” one said.

“He was made to wrestle everyone and you can imagine how fatigued he got. It was everyone in the top 30 squad apart from the injured guys.

“After it happened, I thought ‘what the f… was that.’ It was pretty ordinary. A lot of players didn’t want to do it.”

Another player said they left the club because of the tough environment that has been instilled by Ciraldo since he arrived from Penrith at the end of last year. 

Club captain Raymond Faitala-Mariner reportedly confronted Ciraldo on behalf of the players but he now also looks like he will be released in the off-season despite being under contract until the end of 2025.

Ciraldo said on Wednesday that such wrestling punishments were one of many sanctions dished out to players during his tenure. 

“We’ve gone through a range of ways of upholding standards,” Ciraldo said. “Some of that’s been monetary related, sometimes that’s been spinning a wheel. 

“The reality is, we need to change behaviours … we’ll continue to find ways where we can change behaviours.”

The incident is the latest challenge Ciraldo has had to navigate in his first year in charge of the Bulldogs. 

Canterbury are in 15th spot heading into the final round of the season and haven’t made the NRL finals since 2016.

Bulldogs coach Cameron Ciraldo. (Photo by Matt King/Getty Images)

Ciraldo arrived from Penrith over the off-season with great fanfare, but his disciplined stance has led to suggestions fed-up players have complained about the length of their work days. 

Willie Mason – a club great, who is employed by the Dogs as a pathways transition manager – labelled dissenting players “soft as s**t” on his podcast before Ciraldo said he was keen to fix a culture that “is not right”. 

“Nothing comes without hard work. We have one long day a week and if you get the last massage you’re probably leaving at 5.30pm,” Ciraldo said.

“The days were longer at the place I was previously.

“We’ve got a leadership group that we meet with every week and you’d like to think if there was some unrest that those guys would have brought it up.”

Mason said Ciraldo was going to “weed out” the players who didn’t aim up for him. 

The Bulldogs coach sounded a similar warning, indicating he was only keen on retaining players who wanted to adapt to his demands.

“One thing that won’t change is my attitude towards hard work and understanding that’s what’s going to get us to where we need to go,” Ciraldo said.

“If there are people that don’t want to work hard and don’t want to tick every box to win NRL games then they don’t have to be here.”

Ciraldo, who finishes his first full season in charge of the club against the Gold Coast on Sunday, could find himself under fresh scrutiny if the Bulldogs don’t start 2024 on the right foot. 

The football club’s board is set for elections in February next year and whoever is in charge will want to see an upturn in results after another disappointing year. 

with AAP