Canterbury have made a fast start to life under new coach Cameron Ciraldo, taking down Canberra Raiders 34-18 in an NRL trial game.
The Bulldogs looked much improved despite gun players Josh Addo-Carr, Villiame Kikau and Matt Burton sitting out, scoring four first-half tries in the impressive display in Moruya.
While the Raiders got into the game late when the Bulldogs went to the bench, Ciraldo was thrilled with the display and said it showed standards were lifting across the club.
“I liked how hard we worked, that we worked together … they were just excited to get out there and play,” he told Fox Sports.
“We’ve put our own systems in place, just tried to put some standards to what we’re doing and to the boys’ credit they’ve bought right in.
“They’ve attacked it with 100 per cent and come together as a group, which has been the best thing and the most important thing.”
Hooker Reed Mahoney made an instant impact on club debut as did lock Ryan Sutton, who powered over for an early try against his former side.
Mahoney dominated proceedings around the ruck and came up with two try-assists, with his distribution getting the Bulldogs flowing forward during his time on the field.
Veteran Josh Reynolds was in action after his recent upgrade to a top-30 contract, but their youngsters also looked the goods.
Nineteen-year-old centre Paul Alamoti, who’s a chance to start round one, grabbed a try while 21-year-old second-rower Jacob Preston was dynamic running for 94m and scoring a try of his own.
Hulking prop Franklin Pele also showed his considerable potential with a bruising 88m, five tackle-bust game off the bench.
“Franklin added a lot off the bench and I was really happy to see him do well,” Ciraldo said.
“(Reynolds) just loves it … he loves wearing the blue and white. If our team can have a bit of Josh Reynolds in it then we’ll have a good season.”
But it was a worrying start for the Raiders, looking unorganised early with a number of errors and set restarts stopping them from building any momentum.
Back-up halves option Brad Schneider grabbed a try and an assist, with Ata Mariota the best of the forwards.
Captain Jarrod Croker, playing his first game since returning from a season-ending shoulder injury last year, said they’d need to blow some cobwebs out.
“It was a typical trial where someone lost the ball and got on the backfoot early and defended for most of the game and that was us,” he told Fox Sports.
“I’m not gonna lie, it was good to be back. It’s been a rough 18 months.”
Making matters worse for the Raiders was an injury to young gun fullback Xavier Savage, who left the contest with a jaw injury and will head for a precautionary X-ray.
By Alex Mitchell in Canberra
