There is no point sugar-coating it: missing the finals in 2026 should hurt the Canterbury Bulldogs.
After they climbed back into the top eight in 2024 and then secured a top-four finish in 2025, expectations had changed. This was no longer a club simply hoping to become competitive again. Canterbury supporters expected September football.
So the frustration is understandable.
What I as a Bulldogs supporter struggle to understand, though, is how quickly some fans seem to have forgotten where this club was only a few short years ago.
Go back to 2020: Canterbury finished 15th and won just three games all season. They scored only 282 points across 20 matches — the second-worst attacking record in the competition.
Then came 2021. Three wins again. This time, the wooden spoon.
There was a period when Bulldogs fans entered most weekends wondering not whether Canterbury would win, but whether they could somehow keep the score respectable.
The club had salary-cap issues, an unsettled roster and seemingly endless rebuilding ahead of it. In 2021, Canterbury finished dead last in the NRL for run-metre differential and managed only three victories from 24 games.
That is what a genuinely broken football club looks like.
Fast-forward to Cameron Ciraldo’s arrival in 2023 and the transformation has been significant.
His first season was difficult. Canterbury finished 15th and conceded 769 points.
But one year later, they possessed the best defence in the NRL, conceding just 355 points, and qualified for the finals for the first time since 2016.
Then, in 2025, they took another step and finished inside the top four for the first time since 2012.
That is not opinion. That is measurable progress.
Does missing the finals this year erase that? Of course it doesn’t.
They didn’t handle injuries to Leo Thompson, Jacob Preston, Viliame Kikau, Jacob Kiraz and Sitili Tupounioua particularly well - all missing large chunks of the season.
The erratic six-again situation plagued many teams but particularly the Bulldogs and the Melbourne Storm.
But these aren’t reasons. Simply an observation. And observations I’m sure the club are well aware of.
CEO Aaron Warburton summed it up perfectly when reflecting on 2026.
“The trajectory of our club from 2021 to now is heading in the right direction,” he told Flashscore.
“Missing the finals this year isn't good enough and we know that. We're backing our people. It's as simple as that.”
Both parts of that statement can be true.
The Bulldogs can be disappointed with 2026 while also recognising that the broader direction of the club remains overwhelmingly positive.
Warburton was equally clear about the club’s belief in the people driving it, and he didn’t want any excuses to be made.
“We'll put in the work required to play finals footy again.”
That is important, because rebuilding a football club cannot simply be about what happens in the NRL team after each game.
One of the biggest changes at Canterbury has happened underneath first grade.
The club deliberately rebuilt its pathways system, bringing its development programs closer to Belmore and investing heavily in producing players rather than simply purchasing finished products.
The Bulldogs won both the Harold Matthews and Jersey Flegg premierships in 2023 and also claimed the NSWRL Club Championship across its pathway competitions.
Flegg backed up in 2024 to claim another title and this weekend (September 19th) they play for a spot in the 2026 grand final.
We are now starting to see the benefits.
AJ Jones had been part of the Canterbury pathway system since his teenage years before making his NRL debut against North Queensland in May this year. He took out the club’s rookie of the year.
Jack Underhill’s journey is similar. Identified by the Bulldogs while still a teenager, he progressed through the grades, won man-of-the-match in the 2024 Jersey Flegg grand final and eventually became Bulldog No.880 when he debuted against Cronulla.
Jed Reardon debuted as well. And there are more coming.
Logan Spinks is a perfect example. Still only 20, the back-rower has scored 18 tries in 21 NSW Cup games this season and has already been named around the NRL squad.
Sosaia Alatini is another. At just 19, he has already progressed into NSW Cup, scoring five tries in 14 games while averaging 112 running metres. Both Spinks and Alatini have been included in Canterbury’s supplementary NRL squad this year.
That doesn’t guarantee they become superstars. Junior development never works like that.
But it shows there is a genuine pipeline again. And perhaps that is what Bulldogs fans need to remember most.
This club is no longer throwing darts at a recruitment board hoping something sticks. There is a football system, an identity, a pathways structure and a clear idea of what Canterbury wants to become.
They have farewelled several players such as Bronson Xerri, Lipoi Hopoi and Josh Curran while signing Jesse McLean, Freddy Lussick and Connor Votano ahead of the 2027 season.
The result in 2026 wasn’t good enough. Nobody inside Belmore is pretending otherwise. Warburton certainly isn’t.
But there is an enormous difference between having a disappointing season and being a club heading nowhere.
We’ve experienced the latter before. We know what it looks like. This isn’t it.
As Warburton concluded': “The Bulldogs will never give up. It’s as simple as that.”
Fans shouldn’t either.
Matt Attard is a freelance rugby league writer, disability support worker and host of the Pack Mentality podcast. A lifelong Bulldogs supporter, he is passionate about telling the stories behind the game, from grassroots to the NRL, while championing mental health and the people who make rugby league special. You can read all of his content here and contact him on LinkedIn.
