Cameron Ciraldo

Cameron Ciraldo (born 30 October 1984) is a professional rugby league football coach who is the head coach of the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs in the National Rugby League (NRL), and a former professional rugby league footballer. He is known as the defensive coach behind the Penrith Panthers back-to-back premierships in 2021 and 2022. He was previously the head coach of the Italy national team and an assistant coach of the Penrith Panthers in the NRL. During his playing career, Ciraldo played for the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks, Newcastle Knights and the Penrith Panthers, all in the NRL, and was selected to represent Italy. He primarily played as a second-row or lock.

Cam Ciraldo

Personal information
Full name	Cameron Ciraldo
Born	(1984-10-30) 30 October 1984 (age 39) Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Height	194 cm (6 ft 4 in)
Weight	104 kg (16 st 5 lb)
Playing information
Position	Second-row, Lock
Club Years Team Pld T G FG P 2005–07 Cronulla Sharks 19 1 0 0 4 2008–11 Newcastle Knights 43 4 0 0 16 2012–13 Penrith Panthers 32 1 0 0 4 Total 94 6 0 0 24 Representative Years Team Pld T G FG P 2011–13 Italy 7 2 0 0 8
Coaching information
Club Years Team Gms W D L W% 2018 Penrith Panthers 6 3 0 3 50 2023– Canterbury Bulldogs 30 9 0 21 30 Total 36 12 0 24 33 Representative Years Team Gms W D L W% 2016 Italy 7 3 1 3 43
Source: ^[1]^[2] As of 12 April 2024

Early life

Ciraldo was born in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia to parents Nick and Kelly Ciraldo.^[3] He is of Italian descent through his parental grandparents, who migrated from Italy as a child.^[4] He completed his schooling at Menai High School class of 2002.^{[citation needed]}

Playing career

Ciraldo made his NRL debut for the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks on 5 August 2005 in their round 22 game against the Melbourne Storm at Endeavour Field.

Ciraldo signed a two-year deal with Newcastle on 19 October 2007.^[5] On 23 March 2009, he broke his fibula in four places and dislocated his ankle while playing against Cronulla-Sutherland at Toyota Stadium.^[6] He was escorted from the field with his ankle rotated at approximately 90 degrees;^[7] the injury was described as "one of the most sickening injuries on a football field".^[8] On 10 September 2009, Ciraldo re-signed with Newcastle on a two-year deal.^[9]

On 17 August 2011, Ciraldo signed a two-year deal with the Penrith Panthers.^[10] He played for the Windsor Wolves, Penrith's feeder team, in their 8–36 loss to the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks in the 2013 NSW Cup Grand Final on 6 October 2013.^[11]

Ciraldo retired at the end of the 2013 NRL season.

Representative career

In October 2009, Ciraldo represented Italy in the Australian Mediterranean (Aus-Med) Shield at Marconi Stadium in Sydney, a tournament made up completely of Australian residents, such as Blake Austin, John Skandalis and Jarrod Sammut.^[12] Italy's match against Malta was Ciraldo's first time taking the field since breaking his leg in March 2009.^[13] Ciraldo was named in the Italian squad for the 2009 European Cup, also held in October,^[14] but was unable to attend due to scheduling conflicts.

In April 2011, Ciraldo was named as vice-captain for Italy in their 2013 World Cup qualifying campaign in October 2011.^[15][16] He made his Test debut against Russia on 15 October 2011, scoring a try in Italy's 92–6 win. He played in all three of Italy's matches.

For the 2013 Rugby League World Cup, Ciraldo was again named as vice-captain of the team.^[17][18]

 

Ciraldo (right) making a tackle for Italy at the 2013 World Cup

He played in Italy's 15–14 upset over England in their pre-tournament friendly match,^[19] and featured in all three of their World Cup group matches, scoring a try in their game against Scotland.

Coaching career

Following his retirement from his playing career, Ciraldo became the assistant coach of the Penrith Panthers' NYC team in 2014, under head coach Trent Barrett. On 5 April 2014, Ciraldo was appointed as assistant coach of the Italy national team, also under head coach Barrett.^[20]

Ciraldo was promoted to head coach of Penrith's NYC team in 2015. That year, his team won 20 of their 24 regular season games to claim the minor premiership, before going on to win the Grand Final.^[21] The following year, the team won 18 of their 24 regular season games (in addition to 2 draws) to claim the minor premiership for the second consecutive year. However, they were unsuccessful in winning back-to-back premierships, losing 30–28 to the Sydney Roosters after leading 28–6 at halftime.^[22] Ciraldo was named as coach in the NYC Team of the Year in both 2015 and 2016.^[23][24]

In May 2016, Ciraldo was named as head coach of the Italy national team.^[25] Assistant coach Leo Epifania mentored the team during their 2016 Mediterranean Cup match against Lebanon in June, but Ciraldo returned as head coach for their 2017 Rugby League World Cup qualifying matches in October 2016.^[26] The Italian team defeated Russia in the repechage round to qualify for the 2017 World Cup.^[27]

In 2017, Ciraldo was promoted to assistant coach of Penrith's NRL team to work under head coach Anthony Griffin.^[28] In August 2018, Ciraldo was promoted to caretaker coach following Griffin's sacking as head coach.^[29] Ciraldo guided Penrith to a 5th-place finish and the club qualified for the finals. In week one, Penrith defeated New Zealand to set up an elimination final against Cronulla. Cronulla went on to win the match 21–20. In October 2018, Ciraldo was replaced as head coach by Ivan Cleary with Ciraldo dropping back to an assistant coach role at Penrith.^[30]

Ciraldo was the assistant coach in the 2020 NRL Grand Final before winning the premiership in 2021.

On 14 August 2022, the Canterbury-Bankstown side announced that Ciraldo would join the club as head coach on a five-year arrangement from 2023 onwards.^[31] Ciraldo would join Penrith Panthers premiership winners Matt Burton and Viliame Kikau at Belmore. Ciraldo enjoyed an extensive relationship with Canterbury general manager Phil Gould who promoted him into his first coaching roles.^{[citation needed]} Canterbury's first season under Ciraldo would prove a disastrous one as the club finished 15th on the table with the worst points differential in the competition.^[32]

Sporting positions
Preceded by Anthony Griffin 2016-2018	Coach   Penrith Panthers 2018	Succeeded by Ivan Cleary 2019-present
Preceded by Paul Broadbent 2012-2015	Coach   Italy 2016-2017	Succeeded by Leo Epifania 2018-present
Preceded by Mick Potter (interim) 2022	Coach   Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs 2023-	Succeeded by Incumbent

Personal life

Ciraldo married Model Kimberly Rendall in October 2007 at St Andrew's Anglican Church in Cronulla.^[5]

References

1. "Cameron Ciraldo – Career Stats & Summary". Rugby League Project. from the original on 22 July 2008. Retrieved 14 January 2011.
2. Profile 7 November 2017 at the Wayback Machine RugbyLeagueProject.org. Accessed 26 February 2022.
3. Carayannis, Michael (17 November 2013). "Rugby League World Cup: Cameron Ciraldo in major health scare". The Sydney Morning Herald. from the original on 10 February 2014. Retrieved 30 September 2016.
4. Dillon, Robert (11 October 2009). . The Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 14 October 2009.
5. Keeble, Brett (20 October 2007). "Ciraldo ties knot for Knights". Newcastle Herald.
6. Keeble, Brett (25 August 2009). "Cameron Ciraldo's brave comeback". Newcastle Herald. from the original on 2 October 2016. Retrieved 30 September 2016.
7. Riccio, David (12 April 2009). "Ciraldo has hopes of '09 return". Herald Sun. Retrieved 4 October 2009.
8. "Cameron Ciraldo nearing return from horror injury". The Courier-Mail. 9 July 2009. Retrieved 30 September 2016.
9. Dillon, Robert (10 September 2009). "Cameron Ciraldo cements future at Knights". Newcastle Herald. from the original on 2 October 2016. Retrieved 30 September 2016.
10. Keeble, Brett (17 August 2011). "Cameron Ciraldo to join Penrith". Newcastle Herald. from the original on 2 October 2016. Retrieved 30 September 2016.
11. . penrithpanthers.com.au. 1 October 2013. Archived from the original on 26 August 2016. Retrieved 30 September 2016.
12. . NSWRL.com.au. 6 October 2009. Archived from the original on 9 October 2009.
13. Keeble, Brett (16 October 2009). "Ciraldo gets career back on its feet with low-key Italian job". Newcastle Herald. from the original on 2 October 2016. Retrieved 1 October 2016.
14. . rugbyleague.com. 15 October 2009. Archived from the original on 15 July 2011.
15. O'Neill, Matthew (6 April 2011). . rleague.com. Archived from the original on 8 April 2011.
16. "European World Cup Qualifier squads announced". National Rugby League. 23 September 2011. from the original on 2 October 2016. Retrieved 1 October 2016.
17. Franchini, Tiziano (20 September 2013). "Italy Official Squad for the RLWC2013". Federazione Italiana Rugby League. from the original on 4 November 2013. Retrieved 1 October 2016.
18. . RLWC2013.com. 24 September 2013. Archived from the original on 27 September 2013. Retrieved 24 September 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
19. Howe, Ash (19 October 2013). "England 14 Italy 15: match report – Steve McNamara's men slump to embarrassing defeat in World Cup warm-up". The Daily Telegraph. London. from the original on 11 October 2016. Retrieved 1 October 2016.
20. "Rugby League: Trent Barrett named Italy's new head coach". Sky Sports. 5 April 2014. from the original on 15 August 2016. Retrieved 30 September 2016.
21. "Penrith Panthers beat Manly 34-18 to win under-20s title on NRL grand final day". ABC. 4 October 2015. from the original on 8 October 2016. Retrieved 1 October 2016.
22. "Sydney Roosters stage epic comeback against Penrith Panthers to win Holden Cup". The Sydney Morning Herald. 2 October 2016. from the original on 6 November 2016. Retrieved 2 November 2016.
23. "2015 Holden Cup Team of the Year". National Rugby League. 14 September 2015. from the original on 15 November 2019. Retrieved 14 September 2015.
24. "2016 Holden Cup Team of the Year announced". National Rugby League. 5 September 2016. from the original on 20 July 2018. Retrieved 5 September 2016.
25. Franchini, Tiziano (17 May 2016). (in Italian). Federazione Italiana Rugby League. Archived from the original on 18 June 2016. Retrieved 30 September 2016.
26. . Rugby League European Federation. 9 June 2016. Archived from the original on 2 October 2016. Retrieved 1 October 2016. Italy will be under Leo Epifania, the former Western Suburbs and Illawarra Steelers player, who will be assistant coach to Cameron Ciraldo for this autumn's European World Cup qualifiers.
27. "Italy claim final place in RLWC draw". National Rugby League. 5 November 2016. from the original on 5 November 2016. Retrieved 5 November 2016.
28. Brady, Jack (8 September 2016). "Ciraldo's progression on the backburner". National Rugby League. from the original on 2 October 2016. Retrieved 30 September 2016.
29. Chammas, Michael (6 August 2018). "Panthers part ways with coach Griffin four weeks out from finals". National Rugby League. from the original on 6 August 2018. Retrieved 6 August 2018.
30. "Mega deal seals Cleary's Panthers reunion". News.com.au. 29 October 2018. from the original on 29 December 2018. Retrieved 28 December 2018.
31. "'The old two-card trick': How Gus 'outplayed everyone' in Ciraldo move as Dogs linked to Madge". Fox Sports. 15 August 2022. from the original on 15 August 2023. Retrieved 15 August 2023.
32. "NRL 2023: Canterbury Bulldogs season review". www.sportingnews.com. from the original on 17 September 2023. Retrieved 12 September 2023.