Canterbury coach Cameron Ciraldo is urging disillusioned fans to keep the faith despite the Bulldogs suffering the equal-worst defeat of their NRL history.
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The Bulldogs were booed by their home crowd before spectators filed out of Accor Stadium in droves as Newcastle routed Ciraldo's side 66-0 on Sunday.
The horror scoreline matched Canterbury's 66-0 loss to Manly at Bankwest Stadium two years ago, with only an 87-7 submission to Eastern Suburbs in 1935 and a 91-6 surrender to St George in that same debut season eclipsing those two losses.
"A very tough day. It's not a great moment. It's an embarrassing moment, it's a disappointing moment. It's not what you want," Ciraldo said.
"We knew things would be hard this year at different times but probably not this hard.
"But it is what it is. Clubs go through these times, teams go through these times and it shows your real character and that's what I'm interested in right now - the character of our team, the character of our club and the character of individuals within that team and club."
Despite watching the Bulldogs leak 11 tries, the first-season head coach ruled out making wholesale changes to the side to face South Sydney on Saturday.
"This is a cultural thing that's happened for years and years now - a habit of losing," Ciraldo said.
"We're not going to look for short-term fixes or changes that might get us a little result next week.
"We want to change the culture of the club. We want to turn it into a winning culture and we're starting to do that but we're not seeing the results of it right now."
Ciraldo says he loves that Bulldogs fans are passionate.
"I've only been here six or eight months but I've seen it, I've felt it. I can understand it," he said of the fans' frustrations.
"And the other thing I love is there's an expectation of winning. You don't get that at every club.
"This club expects to win. There's a lot of history around winning and the club and fans expect it and that's the exciting thing about it.
"But you can't just flick a switch and turn it into a winning club and a winning culture, but we are building it from the ground up.
"One day we'll look back to today and whether it's a rock-bottom moment or a line in the sand, whatever.
"But if you stick with us, there will be good times ahead. I don't know how long it will take but I know where we're going and I know how we're going to get there."
Australian Associated Press
