Cameron Ciraldo has satisfied the UFC fighters who helped him create rugby league’s No.1 defensive staff to additionally make the transfer from Penrith to Belmore in 2023 — and all with out breaking the ‘no poaching’ promise he made to his previous membership.
Only just a few months after stating he wouldn’t chase Panthers gamers in his first yr as an NRL head coach, Fox Sports Australia can reveal Ciraldo will nonetheless be joined at Bulldogs HQ by the Australian battle crew headed by UFC celebrity Robert Whittaker.
For the previous two years, Whittaker and his western Sydney staff — which incorporates, amongst others, coach Alex Prates and fellow UFC fighter Jacob Malkoun — have been working behind the scenes because the Panthers wrestling coaches, and serving to to rework the Panthers right into a defensive juggernaut.
Asked earlier this yr to explain the impression Team Whittaker was having on a membership that will finally change into back-to-back premiers, celebrity No.7 Nathan Cleary replied: “Massive”.
Yet now the crew is Belmore certain.
Importantly although, the swap has already been given the inexperienced mild by Panthers coach Ivan Cleary and CEO Brian Fletcher.
While Ciraldo lately revealed he wouldn’t be poaching Penrith gamers in his new position, his relationship with the wrestling coaches falls exterior these constraints given it was the previous Panthers assistant who initially scouted the crew previous to the 2021 season.
Ciraldo even hung out at Whittaker’s health club overseeing classes earlier than agreeing to signal the group.
As a end result, the Panthers perceive they solely secured the group’s providers via Ciraldo.
Also aiding the method is the very fact coach Cleary already has one other Australian battle favorite to fill the void — UFC pioneer James Te Huna.
Now six years retired from the Octagon, Te Huna has morphed right into a extremely revered wrestling coach who has already labored alongside a number of NRL coaches.
He will begin working with the reigning premiers in pre-season.
Across at Belmore, it will likely be the identical for a battle staff overseen by famend coach and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt Prates.
Apart from serving to Whittaker to change into Australia’s first UFC champion — and now seeking to get him again there with a title eliminator on Australia’s blockbuster UFC 284 February card — the group additionally boasts three NRL premierships in lower than a decade, having additionally labored with the 2014 South Sydney Rabbitohs.
The crew from Smeaton Grange have been delivered to the Panthers by Ciraldo in 2021 – having fun with quick success.
Yet regardless of having helped the Panthers to consecutive premierships, the battle staff’s shift throughout to Canterbury has prompted no ailing will among the many reigning premiers.
Ironically, most of the Panthers gamers even have shut relationships with UFC heavyweight Tai Tuivasa and light-weight heavyweight Tyson Pedro.
In truth, Cleary is about to open Penrith’s new Drink West brewery — a business enterprise he owns with the battle duo.
The Panthers teaching division can also be very happy with new wrestling coach Te Huna, the retired mild heavyweight who has constructed up a powerful resume inside rugby league circles.
Te Huna can also be a proud Penrith product and, inside Aussie battle circles, thought-about certainly one of our hardest athletes to ever compete inside a metal cage.
Better, his work with the NRL dates all the best way again to 2009 when, earlier than even getting into the UFC, he was employed by the Parramatta Eels to carry some toughness to a squad that will finally go all the best way to an NRL decider.
The signing of Team Whittaker provides to a Canterbury teaching employees which already contains renowed Dogs enforcers Willie Mason and Mark O’Meley – working respectively as a pathways transition coach and defensive coach.
Bulldogs gamers will start coaching with Whittaker’s crew all through the pre-season.