Cameron Ciraldo's Canterbury makeover has been handed a pre-season reality check in a 36-16 defeat from a dominant Cronulla in their last pre-season trial.
After claiming Canberra's scalp in Moruya last week, Canterbury were completely outplayed by a Sharks outfit that fired in attack and held firm in defence on Sunday.
The excitement about the Bulldogs in 2023 was shown clearly in the 7801 fans who turned up to the Belmore trial match, for which only Tevita Pangai was missing from their likely best line up.