Phil Gould has admitted Canterbury’s season “peaked” before the finals, but remains adamant the side will have “learnt a lot of lessons” from the loss to Manly.
In one of the most gripping finals games in recent memory, the Bulldogs were ran down by the Sea Eagles in a 24-22 defeat, ending their campaign in week one.
It was a massive improvement on the surface for the Dogs, who finished in the bottom four in last year’s competition, rising up the ladder in Cameron Ciraldo’s second season.
However, on the latest episode of Wide World Of Sports’ Six Tackles With Gus, the club’s head of football admitted there was still plenty of room to improve.
“No they didn’t [deserve to lose] but that’s football sometimes at the highest level. Manly dug really deep to get that and it was a great game of football,” Gould said.
Josh Curran and Connor Tracey dejected after Canterbury’s finals exit. Getty
“I was pleased that we were able to put in one of our better performances on our biggest day. If that’s the way we bow out, getting beaten by Manly by two points at that stage, it’s a good way to finish – it wasn’t like we got flogged and limped out.
“We probably peaked over a month ago and we struggled with our last two games [of the regular season]. It was more about wanting to lift to make a good finals presence – we wanted to get there and compete hard and we did that against a quality side.
“Our blokes will have learnt a lot of lessons to carry forward.”
For the majority of the season, Canterbury were the NRL’s standard bearer in defence, with their gritty never-say-die attitude a throwback to the 1980s golden era.
But with heavy losses against Manly and North Queensland in the final two rounds, coupled with the heartbreak of the narrow finals exit, it certainly wasn’t how Ciraldo and Gould would have foreseen things coming to an end.
Through it all though, the club’s diehard fanbase turned up and supported, with Gould hopeful more consistent on-field efforts will make large crowds the new norm.
“I’ve said to everyone that has come in that this is potentially the biggest club in Sydney if we can just turn this big ship around and get some success,” he said.
“We’ve got a fanatical supporter base and if we can turn things around, they will come to support us and we got great evidence of that in the second half of the competition.
Bulldogs fans during the loss against Manly. Getty
“I couldn’t be more proud to be honest, we gave away a lot of experience to a lot of teams this year, it was a young side. Another factor is the time spent together – we probably had less time training and playing together than any team in the competition.
“Most of our players are nowhere near their peak yet and it all bodes well for the future.
“I would like to think that down the track, if we can awaken this giant and make our performances consistent … crowds like that should be the norm.”
The club will welcome forwards Sitili Tupouniua and Tom Amone next year, while the future of Josh Addo-Carr at the Bulldogs remains unclear.
