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How Wolfmother playing live completes the Bulldogs' culture change
Sam Kosack • September 3rd, 2025 3:23 pm
As the Bulldogs run out onto Accor Stadium this Saturday, Wolfmother’s Joker and the Thief will still be blaring from the speakers, as they have before every home game in 2025.
But this time, the Bulldogs will run past the band as they perform live in front of 30,000 diehard fans.
It typifies the culmination of a culture change three years in the making that has seen them progress from cellar dweller back to a bonafide NRL powerhouse.
2024 marked the first year the Bulldogs had made finals in eight seasons, finishing sixth before being knocked out in Week 1 of the finals.
Under the guidance of Cameron Ciraldo, who was in his second year of coaching, the club finished a complete roster overhaul with no players remaining from their disastrous 2021 season that saw them win a wooden spoon.
Now, the Bulldogs have secured their first top four finish since 2012 and are averaging the second highest attendance of any NRL club, over 10,000 more than last season.
For many seasons, the Bulldogs ran out to the very fitting Who Let The Dogs Out, but Canterbury-Bankstown CEO Aaron Warburton explained how the change to Wolfmother indicated the shifting vibe and identity of the blue and white.
“Probably about three months ago, we started the conversation. We highlighted that we run out to Joker and the Thief, like you've mentioned and (Sony Entertainment) were all ears,” Warburton told SEN 1170 Breakfast.
“Cameron (Ciraldo) and a few of us literally selected this song before round one… we used to run out to Who Let the Dogs out for a number of years, and we wanted to mix it up and give this current team sort of their own brand and feel and sound and energy as they run out.
“Critta (Stephen Crichton) bought into this from day one… there's a minute build-up to the song where the first lyric actually comes out. Critta holds the team in the tunnel, he runs out, and literally, Wolfmother will be on the field.
“They hit the riff for Joker and the Thief, and the whole thing clicks into gear.”
The Bulldogs’ NRLW side will also play before the men’s game, and Warburton was proud to ensure they had their own entertainment.
“We put a call out to who could remix the Bulldogs song that they play at the end of the game in the sheds,” Warburton revealed.
“So, a lucky fan will actually DJ that song at halftime, and then there's actually a post-match after party on the field where the first 1500 fans that make their way back down behind the goalpost actually get to spend an hour on the field with a post-match show.
“We're averaging 31,000, which is a club record for 11 games in. So, we're looking at right on 30k for this one.
“We roll in the NRLW double header, which is another spectacle. You're talking four to five hours of entertainment and over 30,000 in attendance, which is great.
“We can't wait.”
The Bulldogs have named close to a full-strength side to play the Sharks who are in the hunt to round out the top four.
