The Canterbury Bulldogs have hit back at widespread fan and NRL community criticism, defending their bold decision to overhaul the club’s logo ahead of the 2026 season.
The club’s first emblem update in 16 years has sparked debate, with fans voicing displeasure and some speculating the design could have been AI-generated.
However, Bulldogs CEO Aaron Warburton has stood firm in defending the redesign, revealing that the logo has been in development for two years.
“We actually submitted it as you have to do to the NRL about 18 months ago,” Warburton said on SEN 1170's Breakfast.
MORE: 'This is so bad': Canterbury fans bite back at new logo
“So, I guess two years ago, on the back of a couple of lean years in terms of the rebuild of the club and where we wanted to head, but really, we had a really complex logo put aside the heritage logo of this year.
“It didn't embroid well, it didn't rank well digitally, so we knew we wanted to change our logo, particularly as we head into what is our penultimate decade heading towards 100 (years).
“We didn't want to do it in halves; we didn't want to change it (now) and then have to change it again in four years.
“We were well behind the pack when it came to what was a clean and bold digital logo.”
Set to debut as the Bulldogs face the St George Illawarra Dragons in Las Vegas for the 2026 season opener, the new logo has drawn criticism from fans – but Warburton insists their input was central to its design.
“We had an internal committee, we did a heap of fan surveys that weren't directly saying that we're getting a new logo, but we wanted to get a pulse check for what logos over the 90 years resonated most with the fans and why,” Warburton stated.
“We definitely raised the concept of having a fan committee.
“But the in-house nature of making sure that there weren't any leaks and we built this with a professional designer that had lots of feedback that was directly pulled from fans around the logos they loved."