The time has arrived for the Canterbury Bulldogs to finally turn things around in 2024.
Simply put, the time for excuses is over. The club have signed countless players, and this is fast becoming a roster than now second-year coach Cameron Ciraldo and veteran head of football Phil Gould can say they have built.
That means performances must be expected. Gould was always realistic about what the Bulldogs were going to be able to achieve in 2023 as they continued to rebuild. The club were further impacted by injuries and suspensions, but they have built a roster that has plenty of depth across the board for 2024.
The Belmore-based side have certainly been ridiculed for their utility signing spree, but the club have made plenty of external noise that all of those players have roles, and with continued improvement of some of the other young talent at the club, the Bulldogs simply must find a way into the top eight this year.
Here are the burning questions Canterbury must answer with success in 2024.
5. Is Stepehen Crichton an NRL-level fullback?
This is realistically the question which could define the entire season in 2024 for the Bulldogs.
Stephen Crichton has been wheeled out as the biggest signing of the lot for the club. A star centre who has played at Origin level and had a major hand in each of Penrith's three straight premierships, he will likely make the switch to fullback at Belmore.
That is the money he has been signed on, and the role which he has been signed - and agreed to leave the Panthers - for.
But is he going to develop into an elite level fullback?
There is no question elite is what he is in the centres, but fullback is a completely different ball game. Latrell Mitchell has managed it, albeit struggling with his fitness in recent seasons.
Crichton certainly has the skill to go big at fullback and become one of the game's best, but it's difficult to suggest that in a side with so many new players and combinations it'll happen immediately.
Time and patience may well be needed, but for a side who haven't played finals football in years, they are two luxuries Crichton may not have as he attempts to transform into one of the modern game's toughest positions, where there is a litter of talent across the NRL, possibly more so than any other position.
