Ciraldo calls out NRL over delayed rule-change communication

In short:

Canterbury Bulldogs coach Cameron Ciraldo wants the NRL to communicate rule changes for next season well in advance.

Ciraldo said he only learned his team will be subjected to a trial of new rule changes this weekend via an email.

What's next?

Ciraldo's Bulldogs will wrap up their 2026 season with a clash against the Broncos on Thursday night at Stadium Australia.

Cameron Ciraldo wants rule changes for 2027 to be communicated to clubs well in advance of the season's start date as Canterbury prepares to become the latest crash-test dummies in trials for the NRL's kick-off experiment.

With the Bulldogs and Thursday's opponents Brisbane both out of finals contention, the NRL has again opted to stress-test changes to the kick-off rules, where teams conceding a try can opt to kick or receive from the restart.

The concept was widely panned by players in Melbourne's win over Brisbane, and Ciraldo claimed on Wednesday he only learned his team would be guinea pigs in their regular-season game via email.

Ciraldo would have a right to feel aggrieved by the NRL's constant tinkering, given his side were firmly entrenched in the top four last year.

The Dogs slipped back in the pack when the NRL changed the six-again threshold from the 40-metre line to the 20-metre mark weeks out from the season starting.

Canterbury has righted the ship since officials have eased off on calling six-agains.

And while Ciraldo won't solely attribute his club's early-season form slump to the changes, he would prefer clearer communication so clubs can plan their conditioning and roster management accordingly.

"If you look at our form at the start of the year you can blame that, but I think there's a lot of factors that went into our results at the start of the year," Ciraldo said.

"We'll look to address those over the next few weeks.

"As the rules came back to what they were last year, we sort of found our rhythm a little bit more, and were able to get back to our style of footy.

"I think it coincides with a number of other things as well.

"I think everyone would like to know what the rule changes are to start the pre-season and not find out about them during the trial period."

Ciraldo said Canterbury had little time to put the trialled kick-off interpretations into practice this week.

"I don't check my emails that often, so someone had to tell me," Ciraldo said.

Canterbury's clash with Brisbane will be the last for Bronson Xerri (Melbourne) and Josh Curran (Perth) before they move on to new clubs in 2027.

Ciraldo paid tribute to the pair for being key parts of the Dogs' revival, and confirmed Sean O'Sullivan had agreed to a contract at Belmore for 2027, despite interest from the Super League.