Inside Bulldogs
Building the club before the team.
Canterbury sit twelfth on rating in late August, square at 10 and 11, and that is the good news: 15th for win rate over ten years, sixth over three, finals in 2024 and 2025. The history runs deeper than the drought reads, eight premierships since 1935 and the small matter of 2002, when the salary cap took all 37 of their points. The rebuild is a whole system now. The leagues club put $6.15 million into the football company in 2025, per the accounts, and a $50 million high-performance centre goes up at Belmore for 2027. The football part is getting harder: Jacob Preston knocked back an extension the Courier-Mail put at $1.9 million and is headed for the open market, after talks Fox Sports says broke down over an offer from Phil Gould that Preston's manager called naive. Gould will no doubt take that well.
- Football parent revenue $56.7 million, profit $2.4 million, personnel costs $34.8 million, audited accounts to October 2025.
- The structure runs the unusual way: a member-owned football club controls Canterbury League Club, not the reverse.
Checked 21 August 2026 · Evidence high
At a glance
- Home crowd, 2026: 23,169 across 12 home matches, down 9,533 on 2025
- Members, 2026: about 33,000, a club record, published by Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs
- Following: 1,241,205 across 5 platforms
- Brand value, 2024: $51M, 8th of 17 clubs
- Who owns the club: Member-owned football club; it controls Canterbury League Club
- Accounts we can see: Audited accounts to 31 Oct 2025 · football parent and group
- Training base: Belmore Sports Ground · $50M centre under construction for early 2027
- Head coach: Cameron Ciraldo
Ownership & Financials
- Canterbury Bankstown Bulldogs Rugby League Club Limited, a public company limited by guarantee, is the parent that runs the football teams and consolidates Canterbury League Club Limited as its controlled entity.
- The audited accounts for the year ended 31 October 2025, lodged with ASIC on 26 February 2026, report the football parent alone at $56.74M revenue, $2.39M profit, $34.78M personnel expense and $2.31M net assets, and the group at $151.03M revenue, $7.83M profit, $65.03M personnel expense and $214.42M net assets.
- The football company depends on financial support from Canterbury League Club, which paid $6.15M in grant and sponsorship in 2025, has committed $6.15M for the year to 31 October 2026, and has agreed to fund up to $10M of the Centre of Excellence.
Following & Sponsorship
- Major Partner: O'Neills
- Premier Partner: Canterbury Leagues Club
Leadership
- Aaron Warburton, Chief Executive Officer
- Phil Gould AM, General Manager of Football
- Adam Driussi, chair
- John Khoury, deputy chair
Football Department
- Cameron Ciraldo, NRL Head Coach
- Brayden Wiliame, NRLW Head Coach
- Mark O'Meley, NRLW Head Coach
- Mark O'Meley, Harold Matthews head coach
- Steve Turner, SG Ball head coach
- Charlotte Henry, Tarsha Gale head coach
- Vanessa Foliaki, Lisa Fiaola head coach
Facilities
- Belmore Sports Ground: The club's headquarters at Edison Lane, Belmore, its training ground and the NRLW home venue, on a council ground whose vision for the site the centre project follows. The current football facilities are being replaced by the high-performance centre on the same site.
- Bulldogs High Performance Centre, Belmore: Three-storey centre on Terry Lamb Hill at Belmore Sports Ground for the NRL and NRLW programs: gym, training, medical and aquatic rehabilitation, lecture theatre, offices, change rooms for elite and community users of Peter Moore Fields, and a 62-car internal car park. Kane Constructions broke ground on 21 November 2025 with completion expected in early 2027.
Pathways
- Canterbury field a full men's ladder of their own, from Harold Matthews to NSW Cup, plus a Ron Massey Cup side, and a full women's ladder from Lisa Fiaola through the NSW Women's Premiership to an NRLW team. Canterbury need no external feeder club and name none.
- The club's senior representative sides in 2026 are NSW Cup, Jersey Flegg Cup, NSW Women's Premiership and Ron Massey Cup, each named in the club's own Round 25 team list.
- The club fielded Harold Matthews, SG Ball, Tarsha Gale and Lisa Fiaola sides in 2026, three of which reached the finals; the SG Ball, Tarsha Gale and Lisa Fiaola coaches are named in the finals team list.
Results
- All-time win rate: 50.3% (All first-grade games), 8th of 17
- Last 10 seasons: 37.2% (2017–2026), 15th of 17
- Last 3 seasons: 54.7% (2024–2026), 7th= of 17
- Team Rating: 79.8 (2026 season), 10th of 17
- Premierships: 8 (Since 1935), 3rd= of 17
- Finals seasons: 42 (Since 1935), 4th of 17
Sources
Bulldogs: squad and cap · Every club, inside · Tell us we’re wrong