Matt Burton didn’t quite bash down the State of Origin selection door but he definitely gave his chances a major boost by orchestrating Canterbury’s second-half surge to sink an insipid St George Illawarra side.
With the Dragons’ edge defence crumbling after Jack Bird went off with an ankle injury late in the first half, the Dogs ran in seven unanswered tries to register a resounding 44-12 victory on Thursday night at Accor Stadium.
Bird appeared to have suffered a broken leg as he writhed in agony after tackling Bronson Xerri but club medicos are hopeful he may have only suffered a lesser syndesmosis injury in the only bright spot for the beaten visitors.
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Burton scored a try in each half and steered Canterbury towards the weak link in the opposition defensive line after Bird limped off but it remains to be seen whether that will be enough to seal his selection ahead of Jarome Luai and Cody Walker in the race to be the NSW five-eighth alongside Nicho Hynes for Origin I on June 5 at the same venue.
“He’s going a lot better but the sky’s the limit for him,” Canterbury coach Cameron Ciraldo said. “If he puts it all together, there’s not going to be a debate about whether he’s in that team. He’s put himself in the frame for that team and if he gets an opportunity he will grab it with both hands.”
Dragons coach Shane Flanagan didn’t know whether to laugh or cry after his team’s capitulation.
“The last time I was in this room I’d won a comp, how things have changed,” Dragons coach Shane Flanagan grimaced when he turned up to the post-match media conference in the bowels of Accor Stadium before comically slumping to put his head on the table.
“It was so bad you’ve got to try to laugh about it. Two halves, so different. We were really good in the first half. Some of the numbers out of the game, you haven’t seen too often – we only had eight sets (in the second half) and they had 26. Possession killed us. And then when we finally did get possession we turned it over or gave away penalties. We were our own worst enemy.”
Canterbury’s changes pay off
After narrow defeats to a depleted Penrith side and Canberra in Magic Round, Ciraldo shook up his side with halfback Drew Hutchison paying the price with Toby Sexton called up.
“He’s got all the tools” Knights Immortal Andrew Johns said on Nine commentary in stating his belief that the former Titans playmaker could be a long-term NRL halfback.
The Sexton-Burton combination seemed to work although the Dogs were a hair off the pace in the opening 40 minutes.
St George Illawarra struck first in the 13th minute via Moses Suli when a Ben Hunt cut-out pass fooled Stephen Crichton.
“He goes far enough into the line to attract defenders,” Johns gushed, “gives his outside men some time. That was perfect halfback play.”
Burton squared the ledger when he won the race to a Sexton grubber before Dragons hooker Jacob Liddle burrowed over from close range for a 12-6 half-time lead.
Bird’s injury looked nasty but while his prognosis turned out to not be as dire as first feared with the club hopeful he may only miss six weeks for what initally appeared to be season-ending damage.
Even though he managed to crawl over the sideline before getting treatment, play was held up for several minutes a short time later as he received attention, eventually getting the green whistle to ease his pain as the medicab took him into the dressing room.
His absence in the defensive line was a huge problem for the Dragons given they had selected four forwards on the bench, forcing Shane Flanagan to shift Matt Eisenhuth to left centre.
The Bulldogs ran past Eisenhuth and an equally inept Luciano Leilua for Jaeman Salmon to make it 12-12 early in the second half and were unlucky to concede a penalty which piggybacked Canterbury downfield a short time later when Hunt was ruled to have made a second effort to drag Xerri over the sideline.
“I can’t believe that’s a penalty. That’s a dud call,” Johns fumed.
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