Likely to be without captain Stephen Crichton for their sudden-death semi-final against the Warriors or Penrith, the Bulldogs will need a spark to avoid going out in straight sets.
Crichton will have scans on his ankle after suffering a suspected syndesmosis injury in Friday night's 26-18 defeat to Melbourne.
The star centre ended the game in a moon boot and using crutches as he watched Canterbury bravely take it up to the Storm without him.
The Bulldogs also dealt with star second-rower Viliame Kikau leaving the field for about 15 minutes following a stray elbow to the eye.
Kikau played out the match and was declared fine by Ciraldo.
Back-up centre Enari Tuala was forced off in the second half with a calf injury and will unlikely be available next week.
A bumper crowd is expected to turn out an Accor Stadium next week as Canterbury try to win their first finals game since 2015.
"We're going to need their energy to get behind these boys, and we're going to need a big crowd out there and plenty of home ground support," Ciraldo said.
"Hopefully those decisions we missed out on (against the Storm) can turn our way next week."
Ciraldo was left seething with the refereeing, attempting several times to "shut my mouth".
"We come down here three weeks ago, and you sort of know the rules of engagement after that," he said.
"We were the ones getting penalised for slow rucks, so I wasn't happy with that.
"The two points high-tackle penalty in the first half, I was disappointed in that.
"Then when we gained some ascendancy there in the second half, and there was a crusher penalty coming off their own try line, I was even more unhappy with that.
"You need a bit of luck in these games, and we got zero tonight."
Despite the loss, following a heartbreaking semi-final defeat to Manly last September, Ciraldo couldn't have been prouder of how his team handled the adversity.
"It's one of the bravest performances I've seen or been involved in," he said.
"We've still got three wins to do what we want to do."
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