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‘We wouldn’t be sitting here’: Ciraldo’s brutal admission as finals hopes slip away Cameron Ciraldo has admitted the Bulldogs are paying the price for their poor start to the season with their finals hopes all but over after losing to the Penrith Panthers. Despite showing plenty of attacking promise and defensive resolve, the Bulldogs were unable to capitalise on their opportunities against a clinical Penrith outfit led by superstar halfback Nathan Cleary. Watch every game of every round of the Premiership Season LIVE with no ad-breaks during play on FOX LEAGUE, available on Kayo Sports | New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1. The defeat leaves Canterbury with a mountain to climb in their bid to keep their season alive, with the side needing results to fall their way. If the North Queensland Cowboys and South Sydney Rabbitohs both emerge victorious on Saturday, the Bulldogs’ finals hopes will be dead and buried. “It’s disappointing because if we played like that in the first eleven rounds, we wouldn’t be sitting here in this situation,” the Bulldogs head coach said post-match. “Since Round 12, we’ve put a lot of good footy together, but the way we played in the first eleven rounds probably has made it a pretty hard job.” Left to reflect on what might have been for his side, Ciraldo conceded the Bulldogs could be set for a tense run him, if their finals hopes remain alive beyond Saturday evening. “We’re going to probably have a few more battles and it’s probably going to be three tries to two,” Ciraldo added. “(A) winner takes their chances, loser stops a couple (and) we needed to stop a couple of those tries. “I thought we were attacking pretty well and then we had a couple of opportunities where we made line-breaks and got taken over the sidelines. “That happened three times. “When Panthers are completing at 93 per cent, you just can’t miss those opportunities.” Meanwhile, Ciraldo also addressed the incident involving young forward AJ Jones after he gave away a costly penalty on the stroke of half-time. With the Bulldogs set to receive a repeat set via a dropout, the young forward ran in and shoved opposing fullback Dylan Edwards in the back to concede a penalty. While Ciraldo acknowledged Jones would learn from the mistake, he praised the youngster for standing up for his teammates and insisted he didn’t want to see that mentality disappear. “It’s probably a good learning for him,” Ciraldo continued. “What this group really prides themselves (on) is sticking up for each other. “When I get really disappointed is when the opposition does something and we don’t stick up for each other. “That’s why AJ is going to be a really good Bulldog for a long time because he cares about his mates and he sticks up for his mates. “He’ll learn that from a smarts point of view, but I never want him to lose that mentality to stick up for his mates.”