Stephen Crichton’s move to the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs has been brewing for nearly six months now, and only ramped up when Cameron Ciraldo was canonised as the club’s head coach for 2023—and it’s all expected to finally wrap up this week.
While the Bulldogs have yet to announce anything official, The Sporting Base understands Crichton and his next NRL club have already agreed to a four-year, $3.3 million deal that will plant him firmly in the team’s number one jumper from the start of their 2024 campaign. All that’s left now is the official paperwork.
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Crichton told his Penrith teammates he’ll be leaving late last week.
He originally pushed to stay but has decided that is unlikely.
Bulldogs general manager Gus Gould confirmed he and club officials had sent Crichton’s camp an official offer on Wednesday. While he offered up nothing in regards to confirmation, it’s understood that is just wordsmithing to avoid any questions of poaching.
On the multi-million dollar Crichton signing that will bolster Belmore further, Gould said: “I doubt there is a football club anywhere in the world that wouldn’t like a player the calibre of Stephen Crichton.”
The 22-year-old has already won two NRL premierships and played 76 games.
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The $3.3 million pick-up is the third time the Bulldogs have plundered the Panthers’ star stock in recent history. If you leave out the Ciraldo signing—itself a key to these later moves—Canterbury have already scooped up Matt Burton and Viliame Kikau before even turning their attention to likely fullback Crichton.
Ever-improving front rower Spencer Leniu is next on their hit list too.
Outside the Bulldogs defections, the Panthers have suffered a string of player losses since winning their two premierships. Burton left last season, while Kikau, Api Koroisau, Kurt Capewell, Charlie Staines, Paul Momorovski, and Tyrone May have all joined the ‘outs.’
The Canterbury hunting list may include Leniu (off contract at the end of the year), but they’ve also enquired several times about Parramatta playmaker Mitchell Moses, another high-profile star who will be thrown into the NRL feeding frenzy at the end of the year. He’s already available to talk to rival clubs, and the Bulldogs are very interested.
They face resistance on that front from the Eels, Tigers, and expansion team the Dolphins.
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