{"id":748917,"date":"2026-06-20T13:39:16","date_gmt":"2026-06-20T13:39:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/748917\/"},"modified":"2026-06-20T13:39:16","modified_gmt":"2026-06-20T13:39:16","slug":"nrl-news-2026-stephen-crichton-kicks-field-goal-in-golden-point-canterbury-bulldogs-defeat-manly-sea-eagles-result-video","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/748917\/","title":{"rendered":"NRL news 2026: Stephen Crichton kicks field goal in golden point, Canterbury Bulldogs defeat Manly Sea Eagles, result, video"},"content":{"rendered":"

Stephen Crichton<\/a> has kept Canterbury<\/a>\u2019s season alive, nailing the match-winning field goal in extra time to upset Manly<\/a> on Saturday night. <\/p>\n

In another big NRL upset on Saturday night, hours after Zane Harrison kicked the Titans to a shock win over Penrith<\/a>, the high-flying Sea Eagles were on the receiving-end of a dramatic 13-12 loss to the struggling Bulldogs.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Stephen Crichton celebrates after kicking a field goal.\u00a0Getty Images<\/p>\n

With their season hanging by a thread, the hots produced a trademark gritty and at times ugly display, but it paid off with a much-needed win at Accor Stadium.<\/p>\n

Lachlan Galvin<\/a> was at his threatening best in the red zone and his show-and-go try with 20 minutes to go put the hosts clear for the first time.<\/p>\n

Lehi Hopoate levelled the scores but Jamal Fogarty\u2019s two missed conversions – both hitting the upright – proved costly, before he missed a field goal attempt.<\/p>\n

Crichton then had two opportunities to kick the match winner, but had a brain fade with the first and grubbered it through with tackles remaining in the set, before shanking his second attempt wide of the posts. <\/p>\n

With one minute left on the clock, Bulldogs winger Jethro Rinakama dropped it in a tackle coming out of his own end, gifting Manly one opportunity before full time – but once again, the visitors failed to capitalise and seal the result.<\/p>\n

It was then over to Crichton again in extra time and he made no mistake, nailing it from 30 metres out to send the Dogs fans into raptures.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a bit scrappy, we\u2019re probably still not at our best, but moving in the right direction and it was good to get the two points,\u201d he told Fox League post-game.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe always practice it at captain\u2019s run and training, just in case we do need it … it was pretty crap the first one, but it was good to get the second one.\u201d<\/p>\n

Perhaps the most interesting part of the Bulldogs\u2019 win was skipper Crichton taking on more of a playmaking role in attack, pushing Matt Burton<\/a> to left centre. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe had the bye last week and we just tried a few different things,\u201d Crichton said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe tried it today, but there\u2019s still a lot of growth in us. It\u2019s totally different to centre, there\u2019s a lot more tackling bigger boys … shoulders are a bit sore.<\/p>\n

\u201cChanging positions, you learn what other boys are going through. There\u2019s still room for improvement, but getting the two points was most important.\u201d<\/p>\n

Crichton looked right at home in the five-eighth role, scoring a try and getting his hands on the ball far more than he normally would. <\/p>\n

Bulldogs coach Cameron Ciraldo<\/a> was quizzed about the backline shake-up during his press conference, which also saw Bronson Xerri<\/a> dropped to the bench. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s always been an option,\u201d Ciraldo said. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Stephen Crichton’s switch to five-eighth paid off.\u00a0Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cAt times when we\u2019ve been short on halves over the past two pre-seasons, Critta has jumped in there and shown a lot of potential in that position. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s something we\u2019ve always had in the back of our minds that it might happen one day and we\u2019ve seen glimpses of it through the past couple of years. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe had the bye last week and had a really good opportunity to sit back, chat about how the first half of the season has gone and how individuals have gone. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe change was more around helping Burto find his best and most consistent form \u2026 I thought Burto was brilliant tonight. <\/p>\n

\u201cBronson\u2019s good, he understands. His energy all week and all day on the bench was outstanding. He clearly put the team first, as disappointed as he would have been … we love Bronson and he\u2019s on a journey to find his best form.<\/p>\n

\u201cBurto moving to left centre was part of it, but Enari [Tuala] has been our best player all year hands down … that\u2019s footy sometimes.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the other side, Tom Trbojevic<\/a> returned from a hamstring injury but it didn\u2019t go to plan for the Sea Eagles, who now slip outside the top-four on the ladder.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Tom Trbojevic in action against the Bulldogs. \u00a0Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t too enjoyable that one,\u201d coach Kieran Foran<\/a> said post-game. <\/p>\n

\u201cI was over the moon with the effort and commitment \u2026 but I just thought we didn\u2019t execute at our best tonight. The accumulation of poor error after poor error kept them in the game long enough and eventually, that hurts you. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt comes back and bites you and that\u2019s what happened to us tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trbojevic, who co-captained the side with his brother Jake, conceded the lack of execution in the dying stages haunted the Sea Eagles.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got plans around it and we just managed it very poorly … we need to reflect on that and be better,\u201d the fullback said.<\/p>\n

The result for Manly was compounded by the loss of tough middle forward Kobe Hetherington to concussion in the first half after a heavy collision, before hooker Brandon Wakeham limped off in the second half with a calf injury.<\/p>\n

Haumole Olakau\u2019atu was also hampered by a shoulder issue, but managed to tough it out and remain on the field as he pushes for a NSW Blues recall<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The win pushes the Bulldogs into 11th spot on the table, two wins outside the top-eight with games still to play on Sunday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Stephen Crichton has kept Canterbury\u2019s season alive, nailing the match-winning field goal in extra time to upset Manly…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":748918,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-748917","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\/748917","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=748917"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/748917\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/748918"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=748917"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=748917"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=748917"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}