Bulldogs playmaker Matt Burton\u2019s hopes of playing in the club’s NRL season-opener in Las Vegas in two weeks hinge on the results of a scan on his left hamstring.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Burton limped from the field in the 24th minute of his team\u2019s 28-0 Witzer Pre-Season Challenge victory over Newcastle at McDonald Jones Stadium on Saturday night.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Bulldogs are scheduled to fly out of Sydney on Friday to prepare for their game against the Dragons at Allegiant Stadium on March 1 (AEDT), but Burton\u2019s status will be determined by scans on Sunday or Monday.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Canterbury coach Cameron Ciraldo said Burton was confident the injury was only minor, and the decision to sit him down for the rest of the match was purely precautionary.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said it\u2019s not too bad,\u201d Ciraldo told media after the game.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt feels all right. He just felt a little something and thought, with it being a trial, that he\u2019d come and get it checked, and he didn\u2019t want to risk it putting him back on.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Knights v Bulldogs \u2013 Week 2, 2026<\/p>\n
Burton\u2019s ability to launch towering bombs and long kicks down-field was expected to attract the attention of Vegas-based NFL talent scouts looking for punt kickers, but the Bulldogs, who have a Round 2 bye, will be guided by his scan results.\u00a0<\/p>\n
If Burton is ruled out, Ciraldo said new signing Sean O\u2019Sullivan, who came on against the Knights and did an admirable job playing alongside halfback Lachlan Galvin, would replace him against the Dragons in Las Vegas.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cFingers crossed, not too bad, but he\u2019ll get scans tomorrow or Monday,\u201d Ciraldo said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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From the field: Stephen Crichton<\/p>\n
\u201cIf he\u2019s right to play, he\u2019ll play in Vegas. If not, Sean O\u2019Sullivan did a great job today, so it\u2019s pretty black and white.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Burton set up then scored Canterbury\u2019s second try in the 19th minute. He started a back-line shift on the Dogs\u2019 left edge, backed up to grab Jonathan Sua\u2019s in-field kick, then ran around to touch down under the posts.\u00a0<\/p>\n
About five minutes later, he was slow to his feet after being tackled, made a tackle on Knights winger Dominic Young in the next set, then left the field shortly afterwards and headed up the tunnel with Bulldogs medical staff.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHe felt it when he was playing the ball in the set before, and he was sort of grabbing at it,\u201d Ciraldo said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just said to the trainers, \u2018get him off\u2019, and then he had to make that tackle, and it was a good tackle, so he couldn\u2019t have been too bad.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Galvin silky smooth<\/p>\n
Speaking during the Fox Sports coverage, commentator and former champion halfback Greg Alexander believed the Bulldogs should err on the side of caution and leave Burton at home.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAbsolutely long odds, if there\u2019s any kind of hamstring strain,\u201d Alexander said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHe threw the dummy and went himself, got up a bit ginger, and then started to hobble.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cNow, whenever there is a hamstring problem, if it\u2019s anything less than a grade one, you\u2019re not limping as you leave the field, so I\u2019ve got great concerns.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think he\u2019s any chance of playing in Vegas. None at all. They would not risk it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ciraldo said O\u2019Sullivan worked with Galvin and Burton at pre-season training and was confident the journeyman playmaker would do the job in Vegas if called on.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got a system there that one guy can come into, and I thought he did a really good job of that today,\u201d Ciraldo said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Jonathan Sua Try<\/p>\n
Though Burton\u2019s seat on the flight to Vegas is not yet confirmed, Ciraldo said injured outside backs Jacob Kiraz and Marcelo Montoya would be among the touring party.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve had a couple of soft-tissue injuries, at the wrong time, but they\u2019ll both be on the plane,\u201d the coach said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThey probably could have played today but those guys … have got history of being able to turn up and play well.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bulldogs playmaker Matt Burton\u2019s hopes of playing in the club’s NRL season-opener in Las Vegas in two weeks…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":479469,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-479468","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479468","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=479468"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479468\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/479469"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=479468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=479468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=479468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}