It’s official – Stephen Crichton will probably be a Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldog in 2024 with the two-time premiership-winning Penrith centre to ink a four-year deal in extra of $3.3 million.
In the newest main recruitment coup for Canterbury-Bankstown’s rebuild beneath new coach Cameron Ciraldo, Crichton will change into the third member of Penrith’s premiership-winning squad in blue and white becoming a member of Matt Burton and Viliame Kikau subsequent season.
The Bulldogs have been good in enjoying the lengthy recreation by sitting again and ready for Crichton to change into obtainable on the open market.
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Once that occurred on Monday, Canterbury-Bankstown kingpin Phil Gould and Ciraldo have shortly moved to make sure Crichton will probably be at Belmore in 2024.
Whether Crichton performs fullback or within the centres with the Bulldogs continues to be to be decided however what will not be up for debate is the power of Canterbury-Bankstown’s roster rolling ahead.
In an additional warning signal for premiers Penrith as they really feel the wage cap squeeze of constructing success, younger gun entrance rower Spencer Leniu is a robust probability of turning into the subsequent member of the Panthers to additionally be a part of the new-look Bulldogs.
Leniu, 22, is off contract on the finish of this 12 months and with rival golf equipment all seeking to sharpen their rosters the Panthers are in peril of shedding one other pedigree native junior.
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Crichton’s departure to the Bulldogs subsequent 12 months will imply the Panthers have now misplaced eight gamers from the premiership-winning sides of the previous two seasons – Burton, Kikau, Api Koroisau, Kurt Capewell, Charlie Staines, Paul Momorovski and Tyrone May.
But the big benefit the Panthers have is the world’s largest rugby league junior nursery which noticed eight native juniors function in final 12 months’s grand closing aspect.
Prop ahead Leniu was certainly one of them and will simply change into the newest instance of the value of success the Panthers are actually paying.
Good judges have lengthy regarded Leniu because the prototype for the fashionable day front-row ahead and in most different NRL sides there’s no query the Samoan worldwide can be a beginning prop.
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But the premiers have James Fisher-Harris – broadly thought to be among the many prime three entrance rowers within the NRL – and Moses Leota as their beginning entrance rowers.
Where it will get delicate is new Bulldogs coach Ciraldo has a handshake settlement with Panthers coach Ivan Cleary about refraining from raiding Penrith’s excellent manufacturing line of expertise.
In the case of Crichton, the Bulldogs had been affected person and it’s solely been within the final 72 hours had been a sequence of conferences with Gould and Ciraldo have paved the best way for the transfer to Canterbury-Bankstown subsequent 12 months to be rubber-stamped.
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Ciraldo did a nine-year apprenticeship at Penrith beginning as an beneath 20s assistant coach in 2014 earlier than graduating to work as Cleary’s right-hand man within the NRL over the course of the previous 5 seasons.
The subsequent order of enterprise for the Bulldogs on the recruitment entrance will probably be whether or not halfback Mitchell Moses opts to go away Parramatta to hitch arch-rivals Canterbury for 2024.
The Wests Tigers additionally stay on the negotiating desk by way of attempting to safe Moses with the Concord-based membership believed to have tabled a deal value across the $1.5 million per season mark.
The Eels are nonetheless additionally very a lot on the negotiating desk with the prized No.7.
Source web site: www.foxsports.com.au
