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Bulldogs rookie coach Cameron Ciraldo has declared he won’t plunder the Panthers despite three of their best players being headed for the open market.
Ciraldo has spent the past nine years at Penrith “building trust” but has vowed not to poach players unless they come to him looking to join the Dogs.
The 37-year-old will start his first year as an NRL head coach next month, just in time for November 1 when a host of stars across the league become available for 2024.
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But he won’t be picking up the phone and calling off-contract Panthers stars Stephen Crichton, Brian To’o and Liam Martin.
“I’ve got my own values and morals and I’ll stick to that,” Ciraldo told the SMH.
“It’s not going to be me approaching any Penrith players. I’m sure if a Penrith player can’t fit in there, I’d like to think I’d be one of the first people they call. But I won’t be calling them.
“A lot of people at Penrith have done a lot of hard work over a number of years and I’m not going to try and rip that apart. I have my own job to do.
“This is a development club here now at Canterbury.”
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Ciraldo knows things will change as the man in charge and is abundantly aware the buck now stops with him.
But the first-year coach has a plan to bring the struggling Bulldogs, who took out the wooden spoon last year, back to the promised land.
“As an assistant coach players look at you differently,” he said.
“You’re more like an older brother. As an assistant, you’re the one telling the jokes and keeping the atmosphere lighthearted.
“I had guys at Penrith for eight or nine years. We built trust.
“I want to come in here and build that same trust so they can come to me. I treat the players how I would want to be treated. I know things are going to be different as a head coach.”
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Ciraldo grew up supporting the Tigers and celebrated their 2005 premiership despite playing for the Sharks at the time.
His connection to the club made it even harder to, earlier this year, knock back a lucrative five-year offer to become their next coach.
“At the end of the day it just didn’t feel right,” Ciraldo said.
“It was hard for me because I was a Balmain fan growing up and it’s a club with big plans in place. All I can say is that it just didn’t feel like it was the right club for me.
“The longer the Canterbury conversations went on, the more it felt like it was the right place for me.
“At the end of the day you have to trust your gut instincts and you live and die by that. I’m comfortable that Belmore is the right place for me.”
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