Sexton helped guide the Bulldogs to the top of thee table early in the season, but was axed after Lachlan Galvin\u2019s mid-year arrival and the team\u2019s attack has looked clunky ever since. <\/p>\n
WHAT’S GAMBLING REALLY COSTING YOU? Set a deposit limit. For Free and confidential support call 1800 858 858 or visit gamblinghelponline.org.au.<\/p>\n However, an unfortunate injury to Stephen Crichton saw a spine shuffle with Matt Burton moving to the centres and Sexton ignited their attack to nearly seal a preliminary final in a tough 26-18 loss to the Storm<\/a>. <\/p>\n Sexton came on early in the first half and immediately made an impact to score a match turning try from a Viliame Kikau pass that bounced off his knee and finished with 35 run metres, two tackle busts and 22 tackles. <\/p>\n But it was his kicking game and direction that helped steady the ship after the injury setback and allowed the Bulldogs\u2019 attack to click. <\/p>\n Former Warriors half Shaun Johnson noted not only did Sexton play well, but he allowed other players around him to shine. <\/p>\n \u201cToby Sexton has stepped up, I have to give him a rap,\u201d Johnson said on Fox League\u2019s post-match show.<\/p>\n \u201cWe didn\u2019t know where he\u2019d play tonight, but he\u2019s just stayed ready. Because he\u2019s come on and had an immediate impact.<\/p>\n MORE NRL NEWS<\/p>\n \u2018Said too much\u2019: Ciraldo fumes over ref calls as great lashes \u2018embarrassing\u2019 moment<\/a><\/p>\n Storm young gun\u2019s epic statement… and \u2018arrogance\u2019 to spark feeding frenzy<\/a><\/p>\n \u2018All of a sudden…\u2019: Bellamy hits out, walks off, after brutal moment leaves star in agony<\/a><\/p>\n Toby Sexton scored almost as soon as he came on.Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s shown Lachie Galvin to a certain extent how to play more direct and play through them.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can see his intent in the way he is moving it, setting the tone and rubbing off on everyone around him.\u201d<\/p>\n NRL great Kevin Walters\u2019 echoed Johnson\u2019s summation on Sexton\u2019s impact on the Bulldogs\u2019 attacking shape. <\/p>\n \u201cHe scored with his first touch and straightened up all of the Bulldogs\u2019 attack,\u201d Walters said. <\/p>\n Michael Ennis, meanwhile, noted the difference between how Sexton leads the attack and the less experienced Galvin, who is still learning his trade as a halfback and is more suited to the five-eighth role. <\/p>\n \u201cThe other part is the form of Sexton, which may give him an opportunity now to start at halfback and Galvin go to five-eighth, where he looked a little more free,\u201d Ennis said. <\/p>\n Critta INJURY sparks Sexton return | 00:40<\/p>\n \u201cGalvin\u2019s just so young and green. He looked like he was just trying to get the ball to the right blokes at the right time and he wasn\u2019t really engaging or looking ahead of himself and seeing what the actual defensive line was presenting. <\/p>\n \u201cAnd that\u2019s what Toby did and that\u2019s what an experienced half does at this level. From the moment Toby came on he dug into the line, played direct.\u201d<\/p>\n Johnson agreed the momentum shift when Sexton came into the halves was immediate. <\/p>\n \u201cYou look at what Toby Sexton did when he came on, once that shift happened, there was clearly a shift in the way the Bulldogs started to attack, It was clear-cut,\u201d Johnson said. <\/p>\n \u201cWe were commentating on how lateral it all was pretty early, but as soon as Sexton came on he straightened them right up and started to ask them some questions on their inside shoulders.<\/p>\n Huge praise for Pezet’s impact | 01:44<\/p>\n \u201cTo be honest I am not sure I have ever watched a game like we just watched. <\/p>\n \u201cThere is so much to digest. I am still trying to wrap my head around the complete 80 minutes. Absolute carnage and credit to both sides for being able to handle that.\u201d<\/p>\n Bulldogs coach Cameron Ciraldo was full of praise for Sexton both for the way he handled his axing before the match and the way he played in his return post match. <\/p>\n \u201cI thought the first half he came on and made a big impact with his energy,\u201d Ciraldo said. <\/p>\n \u201cBut just his confidence to play a little bit of an unfamiliar position. He was over on the left there, but he did really well.\u201d <\/p>\n Given Crichton looks like being out for the next couple of weeks at least, Ciraldo said he wouldn\u2019t hesitate to start Sexton in the halves based on how he played against the Storm. <\/p>\n \u201cOn the back of that tonight 100 per cent,\u201d Ciraldo said. <\/p>\n \u201cConsidering they haven\u2019t been able to train in those positions before and what we were able to do against a really quality opposition, I thought it was great. <\/p>\n \u201cWe will look at that next week, but the main thing is right now is that our guys recover. That was a brutal game. We need to recover physically and emotionally and get ourselves together to go again next week.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Recalling Toby Sexton to the bench proved a masterstroke with the axed halfback showing why many experts believe…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":138768,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-138767","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nrl","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-national-rugby-league","11":"tag-nationalrugbyleague","12":"tag-nrl","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138767","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=138767"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138767\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/138768"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=138767"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=138767"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=138767"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a>
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