8 hours ago
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With two 40-20s and 68 minutes that put Canterbury two points outside the top eight, cut-price back-up half and unabashed footy nerd Sean O’Sullivan added yet another piece to the Bulldogs playmaking puzzle.
The numbers say O’Sullivan is their new No.7 – not to mention a refreshed and suddenly threatening attack.
Yet Bulldogs coach Cameron Ciraldo checked his post-game praise, somewhat, following Saturday’s 32-0 trouncing of the Tigers – a despondent opposition that is a caveat in itself.
Because once again, Ciraldo will wrestle with how to manage Canterbury’s three brightest attacking sparks and a similar conundrum to Toby Sexton’s role last season.
O’Sullivan’s starring role as game-managing half against the Tigers offered the simplest blueprint for when captain Stephen Crichton returns from injury.
Once described by Immortal Andrew Johns as “one of the most intelligent players in the NRL”, O’Sullivan would call the shots. Lachlan Galvin would then play as the traditional five-eighth he clearly is, Crichton slots in at right centre and either Enari Tuala or Jacob Kiraz shuffles to the left wing outside Matt Burton.
Yet when asked whether O’Sullivan holds his spot if, as expected, Crichton is fit to face the Warriors, Ciraldo held fire.
“Sean’s an important part of our squad,” he said, “but we’re doing a lot of things right of late.
“We’re five wins [out] of our last seven games. I’m really happy with some of the things that we’ve been doing and Critta’s [Crichton] is a big part of that. Sean’s done well tonight and that’s really good signs for us because we’re going to need everyone in the next eight weeks.”
Ciraldo shifted Crichton to five-eighth a month ago to bring him closer to the ball and unshackle Burton of the playmaking duties that have rarely sat comfortably with him.
Setting aside the 40-16 loss to Canberra when every Canterbury player missed the jump, Burton has thrived running wider, and only running, just as he did carving up Melbourne in his best game of the season.
Moving Crichton back to centre raises the concern though that his involvement goes the same way.
His average of 51.5 touches at five-eighth against Manly and the Gold Coast (again discounting the Raiders loss when Canterbury were thrashed and Crichton was injured) are what the Bulldogs need from their best player.
Not the average 16.7 times he handles the ball at centre this year – which is why specific set plays have been designed where he and Connor Tracey swap in and out of fullback.
The Bulldogs are a different side with Jacob Preston and Viliame Kikau – the NRL’s best second-row combination – roaming wide and leading a defence that threatens to revive the physicality and line speed of 2025.
What O’Sullivan offers is the game smarts to straighten Canterbury’s attack when Galvin’s natural footballing instincts turn skittish if tasked with too much to do. He averages the most touches a game of any halfback, five more than Nathan Cleary.
Now 27 and at his sixth club with only 65 NRL games to his name, O’Sullivan’s playmaking intelligence has kept his career alive when other halves have presented with more speed and natural talent.
Asked about the 40-20 he kicked just 40 seconds into the Wests Tigers drubbing, O’Sullivan told Fox Sports that he and Canterbury’s coaches had identified Jahream Bula’s habit of lingering centre field late in the tackle count.
O’Sullivan then had the smarts and boot to execute it on the fourth tackle of the game, while Bula failed to clock that the Bulldogs half was punting from inside his own 40.
The “footy IQ that is off the charts”, as Johns wrote in 2022 when O’Sullivan stepped in for a suspended Cleary at Penrith, has always been his best asset.
It’s also the steepest learning curve for Galvin. Which is entirely understandable given he’s 21, 61 games into his career and had never played halfback until this exact point last season.
Alongside O’Sullivan, Galvin still played the dominant half often: plenty of his 72 touches against the Tigers came at first receiver, he regularly took the line on and took charge of the short kicking duties in attack.
The parallels between Sexton and O’Sullivan are obvious: both are solid playmakers with strong kicking games, better suited to managing a game than breaking it open.
Sexton wasn’t offered a contract by Canterbury because they could not see him leading them to a title.
The finals, let alone a premiership, will be a big achievement from the Bulldogs’ 10th spot on the ladder, two points adrift of eighth place.
Sitting ahead of them, the Dolphins, Cowboys and Sea Eagles all have a bye in hand, Canterbury’s -70 point differential amounts to an extra defeat in their loss column, and they face the Warriors, Roosters and Panthers on their run home.
In short, the Bulldogs need a small miracle. But they could do worse than persist with their latest halves pairing.
