Less than a month ago the Canterbury Bulldogs were on top of the NRL world.
Suddenly, they’ve lost consecutive matches for the first time this season and questions are being asked about everything from their on-field performances to off-field roster moves.
Perhaps most alarmingly for a side with genuine premiership ambitions, the Bulldogs have recorded just two wins against current top eight sides in 2025, while losing their other four matches.
It’s a trajectory that puts Cameron Ciraldo’s men well on the way to mirroring their poor record against top eight sides during the 2024 season when they crashed out in the first week of the NRL finals.
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“Their record against top eight teams isn’t flash,” Andrew Johns observed bluntly on Nine’s Sunday Footy Show.
Already this season the Bulldogs have suffered losses to the Broncos (twice), Dolphins and Panthers.
They’re also yet to play fellow top four sides the Melbourne Storm (Round 25) and New Zealand Warriors (Round 23).
During a brutal run home, the wobbling Bulldogs will also meet the four-time reigning premiers Penrith again in a Round 26 blockbuster rematch at Accor Stadium.
A new year, a familiar story.
Twelve months ago, head coach Cameron Ciraldo put his side’s poor record in big games down to teething pains.
“A few of our losses early in the year against those top sides were as we were probably learning our style of play and get combinations that hadn’t played together before,” he said last September.
However given recent personnel changes at Belmore, and specifically the far-from-smooth addition of former Wests Tigers playmaker Lachlan Galvin, Ciraldo’s 2024 comments feel like a case of deja vu.
While the third-placed Bulldogs are in little danger of missing September action for the second straight season, questions persist around team selection and on-field chemistry—and the pressure is only likely to build should the club fail to reverse its current record against the NRL’s top sides.
The twelfth-placed Cowboys host the Bulldogs in Townsville next Saturday night for NRL Round 19.