Cameron Ciraldo has defended his decision to deploy Josh Curran at centre after a loss to strugglers Parramatta forced the Canterbury coach to claim he would need a psychology degree to understand his side's topsy turvy form.
A week after humbling heavyweights Penrith, the Bulldogs were brought back down to earth with a thud in a 38-20 defeat to the Eels on Sunday.
Ciraldo described the performance as "crap" after his backline depth suffered two further blows.
Centre Enari Tuala pulled up sore after Saturday's captain's run and winger Jacob Kiraz limped off with a knee issue after halftime.
Curran was forced to fill in at centre despite winger Jonathan Sua, who eventually replaced Kiraz when the Lebanese flyer went down, being named on the bench.
Usually a forward, Curran had a tough afternoon against the Eels.
"He's played a fair bit there at the Warriors, played centre a number of times and done a lot there in the preseason," Ciraldo said.
"We just thought considering how late the switch was - Jon Sua has played one game of first grade two years ago - it would have been a bit tough on him to throw him in an unfamiliar position at late notice.
"Josh has had plenty of reps there to be able to do that job. He didn't get caught out defensively today."
Ciraldo is confident captain Stephen Crichton will be cleared to return in the centres against Brisbane next Friday after missing the last fortnight with a shoulder issue.
Crichton will help stiffen up the Bulldogs' edge defence but Ciraldo has called on his players to close the gap between their best and their worst.
"You'd probably have to get a psychology degree to figure that out," said Ciraldo, whose side (3-3) finished round seven in 10th spot on the ladder.
"Our best is good enough to challenge anyone and our worst is a long way off that.
"We want to be consistent, we want to be playing close to our best every week, but today was far from it, and we need to figure out why."
Ciraldo's side face a short turnaround into their Brisbane trip but the Dogs coach claimed that could be no excuse for not throwing everything at the Broncos.
"Who cares how long the turnaround is," Ciraldo said.
"If we turn up with the right mindset, we'll give ourselves a chance and if we turn up with that crap we'll get what we deserve."
