{"id":361661,"date":"2026-04-03T08:49:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T08:49:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/361661\/"},"modified":"2026-04-03T08:49:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T08:49:09","slug":"stephen-crichton-suffers-shoulder-injury-for-bulldogs-update-cameron-ciraldo-keeps-bronson-xerri-on-the-bench","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/361661\/","title":{"rendered":"Stephen Crichton suffers shoulder injury for Bulldogs, update, Cameron Ciraldo keeps Bronson Xerri on the bench"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Bulldogs will be sweating on the half of Stephen Crichton after the star centre and captain left the Good Friday loss to South Sydney<\/a> in the second half with a shoulder injury.<\/p>\n

Watch every game of every round of the NRL Premiership LIVE with no ad-breaks during play on FOX LEAGUE, available on Kayo Sports | New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/a><\/p>\n

Crichton struggled to his feet trying to play the ball in the 43rd minute before being tended to by a trainer, with replays showing he landed awkwardly in a tackle involving Jack Wighton and Campbell Graham.<\/p>\n

<\/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

The representative centre was visibly in pain and eventually came from the field, with Fox League\u2019s Jake Duke later reporting on the sideline it was an AC joint issue for Crichton.<\/p>\n

Crichton was later ruled out of the game and will undergo scans on Saturday, with coach Cameron Cirado telling reporters it \u201cdoesn\u2019t look great\u201d and that early indications are it is a high grade two or grade three AC joint injury.<\/p>\n

It means the Bulldogs will likely be without their skipper \u201cfor a while\u201d.<\/p>\n

In a peculiar call, Ciraldo decided to inject Sean O\u2019Sullivan into the contest instead of using centre Bronson Xerri as a direct replacement.<\/p>\n

\u201cAre you not baffled by that?\u201d Fox League\u2019s Andrew Voss said in commentary. <\/p>\n

\u201cI find it very strange now that Bronson Xerri, a readymade left centre who had been part of the side all year last year, wasn\u2019t thrown on and they kept Matt Burton on at five-eighth,\u201d added Panthers legend Greg Alexander.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a fan of Sean O\u2019Sullivan… however, if a centre goes down why would you have Bronson Xerri on the bench at all?\u201d<\/p>\n

Get all the latest NRL news, highlights and analysis delivered straight to your inbox with Fox Sports Sportmail. Sign up now!!!<\/a><\/p>\n

Crichton Off with suspected AC injury | 00:39<\/p>\n

Interestingly, when asked pre-game by Duke how he planned to use Xerri, Ciraldo said he would \u201ccover outside backs\u201d.<\/p>\n

When pressed on why Xerri didn\u2019t play in his post-game press conference, Crichton said there was a consideration to throw him out there but that when \u201cyou lose your best communicator, I needed to get another communicator out there\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd Sean\u2019s one of the best at that,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

The question, of course, for the Bulldogs is why their best communicator is a centre and speaks to the broader concerns about the lack of a clear, organiser in the halves.<\/p>\n

Xerri, of course, was dropped to NSW Cup earlier in the year after the Bulldogs\u2019 win over the Dragons in Las Vegas and then was subsequently reported to have demanded a release from the club.<\/p>\n

Baffling spine call exposed in Dogs loss | 07:44<\/p>\n

While a forced change, it was not the first time the Bulldogs had brought O\u2019Sullivan into the game and shifted Matt Burton to the centres, having done so last week against Newcastle.<\/p>\n

That was more of an experiment than a permanent move, as was prompted by the Crichton injury, with Ciraldo explaining post-game that he thought the team looked \u201cmore dangerous\u201d with Burton at centre and Crichton roaming out of the back of attacking shapes in the halves.<\/p>\n

Latrell stuns with INSANE pickup for try | 00:42<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need Critta (Crichton) getting the ball in his hands. So we needed him to get in and be closer to the action and try to manage the energy of both Burto (Burton) and Critta,\u201d Ciraldo said after the Newcastle loss.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought he showed some great signs, when he got closer to the action and got the ball in his hands and we looked a bit more dangerous there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Crichton, meanwhile, said he enjoyed the change but added there was some onus on him to get closer to the action and not wait for Ciraldo\u2019s instruction to get his hands on the ball. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Bulldogs will be sweating on the half of Stephen Crichton after the star centre and captain left…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":361662,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[111,139,69,213],"class_list":{"0":"post-361661","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-new-zealand","9":"tag-newzealand","10":"tag-nz","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361661","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=361661"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361661\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/361662"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=361661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=361661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=361661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}