Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
AAP
AAP
Sport
Jasper Bruce

Bulldogs run their own video session after latest loss

Canterbury's fifth loss in six games, to Brisbane, has left them only above the Dragons and Tigers. (Mark Evans/AAP PHOTOS) (AAP)

Canterbury's coaching staff took no part in the video review of the Bulldogs' latest loss as the playing group vows to take responsibility for a poor stretch of form.

The Dogs have won only one of their past six games and most recently fell by 20 points to understrength Brisbane at their spiritual home ground Belmore Sportsground last Saturday.

Poor goal-line defence once again haunted Canterbury against the Broncos, who scored two tries rolling over from dummy-half and a further three from plays that began inside the Bulldogs' 20m zone.

The 44-24 loss marked the third time in their past four matches Canterbury have conceded over 40 points - a far-cry from the watertight defence coach Cameron Ciraldo engineered during his time as an assistant at Penrith.

In an effort to stop the rot ahead of Sunday's clash against the ladder-leading Panthers, Ciraldo and his staff had the players run the video review session of the Brisbane loss.

Where the coaches would normally take players to task on defensive misreads, they remained silent as the squad took their own performances apart.

The Bulldogs told AAP the idea was for the players to take responsibility for their performances rather than have Ciraldo spoon-feed them their lessons.

"He's always honest, he's keeping us accountable," fullback Jake Averillo said.

"We had to do the video session ourselves, just us looking each other in the face and asking each other the tough questions.

"Those little dummy-half tries, they're not our standard.

"We set high standards here, especially in defence with all the systems that Ciro is trying to help us work on. It's just not good enough."

Averillo said it had initially been uncomfortable to call one another out on their errors.

"It is tough but I think that's what we need," he said.

"It's only going to make each other better and set the standards higher and make us perform better on the weekend."

State of Origin representative Josh Addo-Carr is likely to recover from a minor hamstring issue in time to line up on the wing against Penrith.

Canterbury are also set to welcome ex-Panther Viliame Kikau back from a pectoral injury for his first game since March.

"(Kikau) is going to be massive for us this weekend. I'm looking forward to having him back," co-captain Matt Burton said.

"He's always ready, he's the ultimate professional in the way he prepares."

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.