Cameron Ciraldo has admitted his side lacked cohesion in their loss to Manly, with the new-look Bulldogs producing just one try on Saturday afternoon.
After recruiting a number of fresh faces heading into 2023, there was plenty of optimism around Canterbury and their chances of success this season.
But that came tumbling back down to earth against a rampant Sea Eagles outfit, going down 31-6 in hot conditions at Brookvale Oval.
The halves combination of Matt Burton and Kyle Flanagan struggled to mount any pressure on the opposition, while star second-rower Viliame Kikau was completely outclassed on the edge by Haumole Olakau'atu.
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Speaking to the media after the game, Ciraldo lamented the 16 costly errors and lack of cohesion from the Dogs in a tough start to a new chapter for the club.
“We definitely made it hard for ourselves," he said.
"The completions weren’t where we needed them to be and where we gave them the ball wasn’t where we planned to. I thought we showed a real lot of grit there at different times and I was happy with a lot of things.
“We lacked cohesion at times around that area and a lot of other areas. We’re a new team, we had three debutants today and four guys making their club debuts.
"We’ve got to be better every week, but today there were some things we didn’t do well and will be unacceptable going forward.
"I still thought we showed a hell of a lot of grit there at times."
Ciraldo admitted he didn't think the halfback deserved to be given his marching orders.
“I only saw it on a little screen, I didn’t think he was going to go to the sin-bin," he said.
"We didn’t handle it well, we let in two tries in that period. It was disappointing for us but I thought we could have handled it better."
With so many new players arriving at Belmore in the off-season, things were never going to be firing on all cylinders immediately - but there is certainly some cause for concern in the coming weeks.
The injury issues that have hit the Bulldogs in the middle of the field certainly aren't helping, with both Tevita Pangai Junior and Luke Thompson missing in action against the Sea Eagles.
“Tevita is about five or six weeks away and Chris Patolo is indefinite...Luke Thompson is around the four-month mark" Ciraldo said.
"I was really happy with some of the young blokes today, we had Jayden Tanner on debut and he wasn’t overawed.
"I thought Jake Preston on debut went really well, as did Paul Alamoti – those guys went really well on debut."
