Opinion
Stephen Crichton will be the best player on the MCG in Origin II. Tell me I’m wrong
Andrew Webster
Chief Sports WriterWhen Stephen Crichton steps onto the MCG for State of Origin II on Wednesday night, he does so as the best player in the game.
Don’t think so? Tell me who’s in better form.
With his fends, flick passes and short kicks into the in-goal, he’s almost impossible to stop in attack. In defence, he fortifies the edge on which he’s playing, making those around him better and more confident.
Playmakers can do their best to manufacture an extra man on the outside, but Crichton instinctively knows when the cutout pass is coming and its trajectory as it arcs through the air.
They either don’t throw the pass or roll the dice and let it go, watching in horror as Crichton latches onto it like a common thief before streaking away for a try. Somewhere in the world, Cody Walker is staring at the wall, still processing what happened in the 2021 grand final.
Crichton can work all this magic on the left side of the field or the right, depending on where his other centre prefers to be. That speaks to his skill and his humility.
NSW centre Stephen Crichton.Credit: Brook Mitchell
He does all this in every headline match in which he plays, whether for his club, state, or country. The bigger the game, the better he performs. If his team loses, he is never to blame. That speaks to his preparation and professionalism.
So go on: tell me who’s in better form than Stephen Crichton right now. And when you work that out, can you explain why Penrith let him go at the end of last season?
The Panthers have rarely got it wrong with their recruitment and retention as they have “built from within”.
Each premiership since 2021 has seen two big-name players moved on to make sure their salary cap fits. Their production line of local juniors, along with their superior coaching and standards, has more than adequately plugged the holes.
But, in their quieter moments, Panthers officials must surely lament Crichton slipping through their fingers to join Canterbury.
Exactly why this is the case depends on who you talk to, whether it’s his management or Penrith.
Maybe it was neither party. At the heart of it, seemingly, was protracted collective bargaining agreement negotiations between the NRL and Rugby League Players Association in late 2022 that spilled into the following season.
After tabling an offer in May 2022, then withdrawing it and telling Crichton to test the market, Penrith wanted to know their true salary cap position before making him an offer.
Stephen Crichton (right) has been a revelation since joining the Bulldogs.Credit: Getty
By the time they were ready, after NRL auditors had told them how much they could spend, Crichton had done the deal with the Dogs.
He’s never said publicly that he felt disrespected but intimated as much to those close to him.
At one point, he phoned Bulldogs coach Cameron Ciraldo, a former Penrith assistant coach, about meeting him at his house to discuss his future and that put him on the road to Belmore.
Ironically, the ratchet clauses in the CBA which increased the salary cap and that were eventually agreed to last year meant he would’ve made only slightly less money at Penrith than he’s now earning at the Bulldogs.
Why is this relevant as Crichton and the Blues attempt to level the series against Queensland?
Because the change of club has only made him better as a player and leader. He might have three premiership rings, but he’s far from done.
“He’ll get better until the day he retires, that’s the sort of guy he is,” Ciraldo says.
Since signing a four-year deal with the Bulldogs in January last year, Crichton has continually conjured big plays when they’re needed – starting with game three in last year’s Origin series.
On one occasion, he cut down Maroons lock Reuben Cotter near his own tryline. On the next play, he swotted the ball out of Harry Grant’s hands at dummy half. Two tries saved in two plays.
In the grand final for Penrith – his last match for the club – he pounced on loose balls, dinked kicks into in-goal for repeat sets and scored tries that kept his team in the contest against Brisbane.
What he’s added since arriving at the Bulldogs are leadership qualities that effectively forced Ciraldo to appoint him club captain in February ahead of Matt Burton and Reed Mahoney.
“Not once did I think Stephen would come here and demand the captaincy,” Ciraldo says. “At our pre-season army camp in Brisbane, it’s like he’d taken over the team. When I spoke to the staff and the guys who ran the camp about who was the best leader, they said ‘Critta’ was the top of everyone’s list. After Christmas, he came back and it was the same. He just owned the team. He led in every area.”
During matches this season, Ciraldo has barked messages into the walkie-talkie while sitting in the coaches’ box, only to have one fired back from the support staff on the field: “Critta’s already told them that.”
The man himself says he learned how to lead players by watching how others led him.
“The way I talk and the way I do things is definitely a representation of the leaders that I had at the Panthers, which is Yeoy, Nathan, Fisher-Harris, players like that,” he said earlier this week of Issah Yeo, Nathan Cleary and James Fisher-Harris.
Those players lead in their own way. Fisher-Harris doesn’t say much at all, preferring to lead by example.
Asked if he’s had to find his voice since being handed the captaincy, Crichton said his move to the Bulldogs brought it out of him.
“My transition to the Dogs definitely helped that,” he said. “Going there knowing that I’m not just a normal player any more. There are a lot of players there who look up to me to lead just because of my experiences, so I’m trying to do that at the Dogs. But I also don’t want to lose myself. I’m just trying to be myself.”
As it stands, that’s the best player in the game.
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