The club was admitted to the New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership, predecessor of the current NRL competition, in 1935.

It took the new club, nicknamed "Country Bumpkins" because of their rural recruiting and CB emblem, four years to win their first premiership in 1938.

But the return to the top end of the table set the scene for off-field restructuring that laid the foundations for the club to become one of the most consistent achievers in the remaining decades of the 20th century.

In 1998 the Bulldogs came close to adding another premiership trophy after qualifying for the grand final where they met the Brisbane Broncos and lost 38–12.

The team managed to focus on football and triumphed when they held out the Sydney Roosters 16–13 with a try-saving tackle by Andrew Ryan in the dying seconds of the 2004 Grand Final.

2005 saw Canterbury-Bankstown unable to mount a serious defence of their premiership title as injuries and contract negotiations saw the year start and finish on a sour note for the club.

Canterbury finished second in the regular season (losing the minor premiership to the St. George Illawarra Dragons due to a loss of two competition points for an interchange breach against Penrith in Round 2), and players and officials took out a number of Dally M awards.

2009 was also the final season for Hazem El Masri, who became the highest all-time pointscorer in Australian rugby league history with a penalty goal in the Bulldogs' Round 1 match against the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles.

[7] On 10 August 2017, Canterbury announced Rugby League World Cup CEO Andrew Hill as the replacement for outgoing boss Raelene Castle.

In May 2018, the new Canterbury board admitted that they would not be able to make any major signings until the end of the 2021 season due to the salary cap drama engulfing the club.

The issue with the salary cap problems involved the previous administration and former coach Des Hasler who signed numerous players on back ended deals.

This resulted in Moses Mbye departing for the Wests Tigers and star recruit Aaron Woods being sold to Cronulla after only signing with Canterbury months prior.

On 16 June 2018, Canterbury suffered a humiliating 32–10 loss to the Gold Coast Titans at Belmore, in the press conference coach Dean Pay said "Physically, we just weren't good enough.

[9][10] On 20 July 2018, Canterbury played against arch rivals Parramatta in what the media had dubbed as the "Spoon Bowl" with both sides sitting at the bottom of the ladder.

By the midway part of the 2019 season, Canterbury-Bankstown found themselves sitting last on the table and in real danger of finishing with the wooden spoon.

However, for the third straight season, Canterbury achieved four upset victories in a row over Penrith, the Wests Tigers, South Sydney and Parramatta who were all competing for a place in the finals series and were higher on the table.

[21] In round 16 of the 2021 NRL season, Canterbury suffered their third heaviest defeat in club history losing 66–0 to Manly-Warringah at Western Sydney Stadium.

Once the new Stadium Australia had been finished and opened in preparation for the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, the club began to play matches there between 1999 and 2000.

[citation needed] The club's training and administration offices remained at Belmore Sports Ground until the beginning of 2008, but were relocated to Sydney Olympic Park during the 2008 season.

Speaking to the Herald Sun in 2007, former Canterbury-Bankstown player Craig Polla-Mounter described the rivalry between the two club's saying "I think the Parramatta and Canterbury fans can be the most unforgiving, especially when we play each other.

While the Roosters finished the regular season with the minor premiership, Canterbury defeated them in the grand final 16–13 after trailing 13–6 at half time.

In the 1942 NSWRFL season, the two clubs met in the Grand Final with Canterbury-Bankstown defeating St. George 11–9 in a low-scoring affair at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

The elimination final in 1998 was also St. George's last game as a stand-alone entity as the club elected to form a joint venture with Illawarra for the 1999 NRL season.

However, the competitive nature intensified when they met in the 2014 NRL Grand Final where Souths won 30–6 to claim their first premiership since 1971.

[20] In round 6 of the 2023 NRL season, South Sydney recorded the most amount of points scored by a winning team in the Good Friday game as they defeated Canterbury 50–16.

[61] Hazem El Masri holds the NRL record for the most games played for the club, having made 317 appearances in total.

In 2002, the club won 17 matches in a row after getting beaten by the New Zealand Warriors; falling just two short of the record set by the Eastern Suburbs team of 1975.

In round 7 of the 2014 season, after beating the South Sydney Rabbitohs 15–14, Canterbury became the first club to win three consecutive matches by one point.

Updated: 1 August 2015Source(s): Bulldogs name team of decade Reserve/Pre-season Representative Honours Junior Representative Honours: 1963, 1971, 1976, 1979, 1983, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2023 (Record - Most Jersey Flegg Titles) 1972, 1978, 2009 2007, 2009, 2011, 2023 The club runs women's teams in pathway competitions facilitated by the New South Wales Rugby League - the open-age Harvey Norman Women's Premiership, Under 19 Tarsha Gale Cup, and Under 17 Lisa Fiaola Cup.

[67] The club subsequently announced the appointment of Blake Cavallaro as their inaugural NRLW coach and, in July 2024, their first player signings.