For much of the season, Canterbury have been searching for a way to re-energise a misfiring attack and best deploy some of their key assets.
The answer might have been staring them in the face the whole time.
Stephen Crichton’s shift to five-eighth last weekend came as a surprise to many, but it was anything but a spur-of-the-moment decision, according to coach Cameron Ciraldo.
“It wasn’t on a whim,” he said of the switch in which Matt Burton moved to the centres.
“He’s been training there for two years … over the last two pre-seasons. Burto has missed some time through injury in those pre-seasons, and Stephen has got the opportunity to go in there and show us what he could do, so we were really confident in his ability to play that position.
“It’s sort of been in the back of our minds for two years, and I think we only saw a glimpse of what he can do last week. I think he’ll improve every week that he gets an opportunity there.”
Partnering Lachlan Galvin in the halves against Manly, the Canterbury captain booted the match-winning field goal, while Burton, freed from the burden of play-making, thrived as he turned attention back to his running game.
A third win in their past four matches has revived the Bulldogs’ finals chances ahead of a trip to the Gold Coast on Friday. It will be a meeting of the only two teams to beat leaders Penrith this season.
Canterbury will retain the Crichton-Galvin combination against the Titans, who are fresh from their giant-killing one-point victory over the Panthers last Saturday. While Ciraldo is not yet committing to it permanently, he likes what he has seen.
“It’s hard to say. Who knows what’s going to happen over the next few weeks,” he said. “There’s Origin still to be played out, injuries happen, guys coming back from injury. So there’s so much that can happen over the next couple of months. But we were really happy with what we saw last week.”
The selection change-up, however, has not come without collateral damage.
The centre is in discussions with Melbourne and Parramatta after gaining permission from Canterbury to explore his options beyond this season. He has been named on Canterbury’s six-man bench for the Gold Coast clash.
The Storm and Eels have interest in taking him on before the June 30 transfer deadline, but such an early release has not been considered by Canterbury.
“That has not been discussed at all,” Ciraldo said. “Bronson is a big part of our team, we love having him here, and I expect him to play a lot more footy before he [leaves] here.”
Xerri was upset at his relegation to reserve grade after the Bulldogs’ round one win over the Dragons in Las Vegas and the coach had indicated he was disappointed by his reaction to the setback.
This time around, though, he had taken it well, Ciraldo said.
“His reaction has been great … exactly what you’d want, or how you’d want a player to react,” he said. “He clearly wants to be playing NRL, and he’s working hard to get back in the team, but he’s putting the team first in our preparation, and in our game day, he’s ready to go.
“We love Bronson. He’s been a great player for us the last couple of years. He’s having some challenges this year and we’ve been working through that.
“He’s obviously got some things he’s got to sort out … I think he’s at the stage where he wants to look at what’s best for him; he wants to get out of his comfort zone and I fully support how he’s doing that because he’s putting the team first while he’s here.”
Chris Barrett is a senior sports reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald. He is a former South-East Asia correspondent for the Herald and The Age.Connect via X or email.
