{"id":428222,"date":"2026-05-15T01:30:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-15T01:30:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/428222\/"},"modified":"2026-05-15T01:30:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-15T01:30:12","slug":"nrl-2026-origin-daily-cameron-ciraldo-defends-stephen-crichton-nsw-blues-snub-state-of-origin-magic-round-11","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/428222\/","title":{"rendered":"NRL 2026: Origin Daily, Cameron Ciraldo defends Stephen Crichton NSW Blues snub, State of Origin, Magic Round 11"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bulldogs coach Cameron Ciraldo has defended skipper Stephen Crichton amid claims he could be snubbed for the NSW Blues in State of Origin I. <\/p>\n

The Daily Telegraph<\/a> reported Ciraldo would be shocked if Crichton wasn\u2019t picked and warned he will be back to his best against the Sharks in Magic Round. <\/p>\n

Watch every game of every round of the Premiership Season 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 returned early from an AC injury and his form has suffered for the Bulldogs amid their slump, which has seen them lose seven of their past eight games. <\/p>\n

It has sparked reports Laurie Daley is set to overlook Crichton in favour of in form stars Latrell Mitchell and Kotoni Staggs as his centres for Origin I. <\/p>\n

However, Ciraldo warned that would be a mistake and unfair on one of the Blues\u2019 best players in recent years. <\/p>\n

\u201cI would be shocked (if he is not picked),\u201d Ciraldo said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s been one of New South Wales\u2019 best for the past number of seasons \u2013 and when it comes to Origin time, you can rely on those sorts of guys.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe knows what it\u2019s about, and he knows how to get himself ready for those types of environments and those types of games.<\/p>\n

MORE NRL NEWS<\/p>\n

TALKING POINTS: QLD legend\u2019s verdict on big Billy headache… and bold Blues fix<\/a><\/p>\n

FROM \u2018AWFUL\u2019 TO FIXING \u2018NIGHTMARE\u2019: Secret behind shock transformation<\/a><\/p>\n

WHISPERS: Panthers block approach from stars to move deadline as Chiefs circle<\/a><\/p>\n

Ciraldo ‘looking for an excuse’ | 01:05<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s an Origin player. We knew that when we bought him, that he wouldn\u2019t be available at these times of year, and he rises to those occasions as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut we know he\u2019s had some good training in the last couple of weeks, and I\u2019m confident we\u2019ll see the best of him tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ciraldo said it was unfair to judge Crichton\u2019s form when most players would not have returned as early as he did from his shoulder injury to help the Bulldogs arrest their form slide. <\/p>\n

\u201cI know that he came back from injury early and put the team first in that regard,\u201d Ciraldo said. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s been battling through, but I think he\u2019s starting to get back to the confidence that we know he has and I know he\u2019s ready to bring his best game tomorrow.\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","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bulldogs coach Cameron Ciraldo has defended skipper Stephen Crichton amid claims he could be snubbed for the NSW…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":428223,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[85,2652,20174,37215,219485,2647,62737,9499,94273,48167,100773,2648,219486,111,139,69,2659,219487,219483,203899,72,151233,81271,213,219484,6887],"class_list":["post-428222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-cameron-ciraldo","tag-daily-telegraph","tag-defended-skipper","tag-fox-league","tag-fox-sports-news","tag-getty-images-inc","tag-julia-robinson","tag-latrell-mitchell","tag-laurie-daley","tag-new-south-wales","tag-new-south-wales-blues","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-oceania","tag-origin-i-origin-daily","tag-panthers-block-approach","tag-paul-kane","tag-perth","tag-queensland-maroons","tag-shoulder-injury","tag-sports","tag-stephen-crichton-nsw","tag-western-australia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428222","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=428222"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428222\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/428223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=428222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=428222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=428222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}