Appearing on Fox League’s NRL 360 program on Tuesday night, the England skipper was asked by the show’s co-host, former rugby league player Ben Ikin, whether he would describe the players’ get together as a ‘crisis’ meeting.

“Certainly not; there was no crisis meeting,” the 127-game Bulldog replied. “We were on an eight-day turn-around leading into the Dragons game. It was something that we do regularly throughout the season anyway, win or loss.

“We’d had a long discussion after the game. We just felt the time was right. ‘Right boys, tomorrow’s a scheduled day off; it was a Monday, so none of us have too many plans, let’s get together.’

“It wasn’t a compulsory thing. No one was holding court kind’ve thing, or anything like that. It was just a nice, friendly get-together over a couple of drinks and a nice feed as well.”

On Sunday, the Bulldogs suffered their biggest ever loss to the Penrith Panthers, a 38-0 drubbing by a team severely out of form just a few weeks ago and who many were starting to consider overrated and unworthy of the lofty expectations placed upon them over the pre-season.

Canterbury, sitting in 14th spot on the ladder following five wins and eight losses for the season, take on St George-Illawarra on Monday at 4pm at ANZ Stadium.