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He’d suffered some devastating injuries, in particular a career-threatening broken leg in 2009, and was never on superstar wages. He’d been through a lot of pain for relatively modest financial gain.
He was yet to realise his potential, and suddenly, after seven years of blood, sweat and tears, it appeared he was on the scrapheap, another young player chewed up and spat out by the system.
A second sliding-doors moment followed. Just when all hope appeared lost, a surprised Ciraldo received a call from Phil Gould, Penrith’s new director of football, and the pair met at Gosford McDonald’s to seal a deal.
Ciraldo played 32 games over the next two seasons for the Panthers.
Then, as he pondered hanging up the boots to pursue a new career path as a fireman, he was instead offered a role in Penrith’s welfare department and joined their junior coaching staff.
In quick succession, he had won a host of premierships – first as coach of Penrith’s under-20s, and then as an assistant to Ivan Cleary in the Panthers’ back-to-back NRL triumphs of 2021-22.
He was then lured to Canterbury by Gould, where in the space of two and a bit seasons, he has taken the Bulldogs from near the foot of the ladder to the competition lead.
Cameron Ciraldo and Liam Martin celebrate Penrith’s 2022 grand final triumph.Credit: Getty Images
At the age of 40, he’s the hottest young coach in the game.
All of which has come as a surprise to some of his former teammates, one of whom said: “He was pretty much over rugby league. He’s the last bloke I’d have picked to become a coach.”
Former Knights coach Rick Stone, however, remembers Ciraldo as a good team man who showed great character in returning from his shattered leg.
“He was always intelligent and had good footy knowledge,” Stone said. “You didn’t need to tell him too many times how to do something. He picked things up quickly. He wasn’t an extrovert. He was never a big personality, that’s for sure.
“He was always well-liked, very popular in his own way and with his own demeanour. He just went about his business fairly quietly and methodically.
“I look back it now and think, yeah, I can see how it’s come about for Ciro. I liked him. He’s going great now, and good on him.”
Stone said Ciraldo was a “good problem solver”.
“I remember one game, I think we lost a five-eighth and a centre to injuries, and we had Chris Houston and Ciro – two back-rowers – ended up playing as the ‘two’ and ‘three’ defenders to finish off the match, and they really managed it well,” Stone said.
Cameron Ciraldo playing for Newcastle in 2011.Credit: Getty Images
“It was a tough ask, but I just remember that Ciro helped solve our problem.”
Clint Newton, a teammate of Ciraldo at Penrith and now the chief executive of the RLPA, said he is not remotely surprised by Ciraldo’s success as a coach.
“He was someone who was very professional, very reliable and would just get in and get his job done,” Newton said.
“I think he’d learned he had to be very diligent, just to manage his body after that broken leg that he had.
“He was very good at mixing with the young guys, and that’s something that me and him both enjoyed, helping bring them through.”
It’s also a testament to Gould and Cleary for the faith they showed in Ciraldo, both as a player and a coach.
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“His temperament, his love of the game, understanding of the game – he’s got a good relationship with people,” Cleary replied, when asked what it was he first saw in Ciraldo.
“He’s good at relationships and he really wanted to coach. That was one of the things I saw in him. Since then, he’s had a real thirst for learning and growing. It still looks like he’s doing it now.”
On Good Friday, in front of an anticipated crowd of 70,000, Ciraldo will go head-to-head with the man who once left him pondering the end of the road.
He already holds a 2-0 winning record against the old maestro, who was then with the Dolphins and is now at the helm of South Sydney.
Bennett may not have seen much that excited him about Ciraldo as a player.
As a coach, he has presumably created a bit more of an impression.
Michael Chammas and Andrew “Joey” Johns dissect the upcoming NRL round, plus the latest footy news, results and analysis. Sign up for the Sin Bin newsletter.
He’d suffered some devastating injuries, in particular a career-threatening broken leg in 2009, and was never on superstar wages. He’d been through a lot of pain for relatively modest financial gain.
He was yet to realise his potential, and suddenly, after seven years of blood, sweat and tears, it appeared he was on the scrapheap, another young player chewed up and spat out by the system.
A second sliding-doors moment followed. Just when all hope appeared lost, a surprised Ciraldo received a call from Phil Gould, Penrith’s new director of football, and the pair met at Gosford McDonald’s to seal a deal.
Ciraldo played 32 games over the next two seasons for the Panthers.
Then, as he pondered hanging up the boots to pursue a new career path as a fireman, he was instead offered a role in Penrith’s welfare department and joined their junior coaching staff.
In quick succession, he had won a host of premierships – first as coach of Penrith’s under-20s, and then as an assistant to Ivan Cleary in the Panthers’ back-to-back NRL triumphs of 2021-22.
He was then lured to Canterbury by Gould, where in the space of two and a bit seasons, he has taken the Bulldogs from near the foot of the ladder to the competition lead.
Cameron Ciraldo and Liam Martin celebrate Penrith’s 2022 grand final triumph.Credit: Getty Images
At the age of 40, he’s the hottest young coach in the game.
All of which has come as a surprise to some of his former teammates, one of whom said: “He was pretty much over rugby league. He’s the last bloke I’d have picked to become a coach.”
Former Knights coach Rick Stone, however, remembers Ciraldo as a good team man who showed great character in returning from his shattered leg.
“He was always intelligent and had good footy knowledge,” Stone said. “You didn’t need to tell him too many times how to do something. He picked things up quickly. He wasn’t an extrovert. He was never a big personality, that’s for sure.
“He was always well-liked, very popular in his own way and with his own demeanour. He just went about his business fairly quietly and methodically.
“I look back it now and think, yeah, I can see how it’s come about for Ciro. I liked him. He’s going great now, and good on him.”
Stone said Ciraldo was a “good problem solver”.
“I remember one game, I think we lost a five-eighth and a centre to injuries, and we had Chris Houston and Ciro – two back-rowers – ended up playing as the ‘two’ and ‘three’ defenders to finish off the match, and they really managed it well,” Stone said.
Cameron Ciraldo playing for Newcastle in 2011.Credit: Getty Images
“It was a tough ask, but I just remember that Ciro helped solve our problem.”
Clint Newton, a teammate of Ciraldo at Penrith and now the chief executive of the RLPA, said he is not remotely surprised by Ciraldo’s success as a coach.
“He was someone who was very professional, very reliable and would just get in and get his job done,” Newton said.
“I think he’d learned he had to be very diligent, just to manage his body after that broken leg that he had.
“He was very good at mixing with the young guys, and that’s something that me and him both enjoyed, helping bring them through.”
It’s also a testament to Gould and Cleary for the faith they showed in Ciraldo, both as a player and a coach.
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“His temperament, his love of the game, understanding of the game – he’s got a good relationship with people,” Cleary replied, when asked what it was he first saw in Ciraldo.
“He’s good at relationships and he really wanted to coach. That was one of the things I saw in him. Since then, he’s had a real thirst for learning and growing. It still looks like he’s doing it now.”
On Good Friday, in front of an anticipated crowd of 70,000, Ciraldo will go head-to-head with the man who once left him pondering the end of the road.
He already holds a 2-0 winning record against the old maestro, who was then with the Dolphins and is now at the helm of South Sydney.
Bennett may not have seen much that excited him about Ciraldo as a player.
As a coach, he has presumably created a bit more of an impression.
Michael Chammas and Andrew “Joey” Johns dissect the upcoming NRL round, plus the latest footy news, results and analysis. Sign up for the Sin Bin newsletter.
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