Cameron Ciraldo's Canterbury makeover has been handed a pre-season reality check in a 36-16 defeat from a dominant Cronulla in their last pre-season trial.
After claiming Canberra's scalp in Moruya last week, Canterbury were completely outplayed by a Sharks outfit that fired in attack and held firm in defence on Sunday.
The excitement about the Bulldogs in 2023 was shown clearly in the 7801 fans who turned up to the Belmore trial match, for which only Tevita Pangai was missing from their likely best line up.
But ultimately the only real bright spot for new coach Ciraldo and his Canterbury team came in the second minute, when recruit Viliame Kikau scored.
Even that joy was spoiled 13 minutes later when he suffered a head knock trying to tackle Sione Katoa and was immediately ruled out of the game.
The powerful second-rower now has less than two weeks to recover in time to face Manly in the opening round.
Hayze Perham also had a difficult outing in his first game in the Bulldogs No.1 jersey, as he made two early errors and later failed to clean up a ball in his own in-goal.
He wasn't alone though, as Ciraldo's men completed at 63 per cent for the game and Bulldogs fans were forced to wait until the 68th minute for their side's next points.
Fan-favourite Josh Reynolds also claimed a late try in his return to Belmore, after receiving a standing ovation on taking the field.
Cronulla showed they can be a genuine force again after also beating Newcastle with an understrength side last week.
Nicho Hynes and Matt Moylan were dangerous in attack, easily outplaying Matt Burton and Kyle Flanagan as they both set up two tries.
Teig Wilton and Siosifa Talakai looked back to their best on the Sharks' left, after being among the most dominant edges in the competition through the first half of last year.
Winger Ronaldo Mulitalo was also powerful down the left, as he and Wilton each bagged two tries.
The win didn't quite allow the Sharks to claim the pre-season challenge, with their three offloads not enough to take maximum points from the match.
That has left Manly as the inaugural champions and winners of the $100,000 prize.
