‘Awesome’: Ciraldo’s Gus praise amid Addo-Carr saga

Bulldogs coach Cameron Ciraldo has revealed his players’ mindset going into the elimination final against Manly after the revelations around Josh Addo-Carr’s positive roadside drug test.
As the Bulldogs prepared for their first final since 2016, the bombshell dropped early in the week before the winger accepted a $682 fine and a three-month driving suspension, after a secondary test came back positive.
Speaking after his side was knocked out of the finals in a thrilling match, Ciraldo praised the leadership of general manager Phil Gould when discussing how the club responded to the news.
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“It’s hard to say whether it has had an impact or not,” he said.
Cameron Ciraldo during his post-match press conference.  Nine
“What I will say is I thought we handled it great. I thought having a leader like Gus (Gould) was awesome for myself and the playing group.
“You are always looking at the playing group and thinking, ‘How has it affected them?’ They came to me and said, ‘This is not a distraction for us, we are right to go’.
“I think it showed out there tonight how well they prepared all week. It’s a credit to these players and our leaders they were able to shift any focus on that on to trying to get the job done tonight.”
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The finals appearance for the Bulldogs is a stark contrast to last season when Ciraldo took over.
The Bulldogs finished 15th and recorded only seven wins.
This year they doubled those wins and finished fifth.
Much of this has come from Ciraldo’s coaching and the close bond he’s formed with the playing group.
Asked if the situation impacted him directly, the coach explained his process in dealing with it.
“Yeah, obviously the main concern is for Josh and his family, once that’s done I had a job to do with the team,” he said.
“I was really lucky the leaders, like Stephen (Crichton), helped me with that.
“So we were really excited about finals footy, that was the main thing during the week and I was really happy with how we prepared.”