How Stephen Crichton is prepared to lift the Bulldogs as rival skippers share their toughest moments in charge

Stephen Crichton will captain for the first time on Saturday night. The new Bulldogs skipper predicts what type of leader he will be, and receives some friendly advice from some of the NRL’s other captains.

Stephen Crichton has never captained a side before. Not his local park team, let alone an NRL side. That is until he runs out onto CommBank Stadium for the Bulldogs against Parramatta on Saturday afternoon. At just 23 he is the second youngest captain in the game – behind North Queensland’s Tom Dearden who will share the duties with Reuben Cotter.

Crichton though represents a changing of the guard in terms of rugby league skippers. He comes from Penrith’s system where they have had a huge amount of success.

But at Penrith he would have probably been at least fifth in line to lead the team. Think current co-captains Nathan Cleary and Isaah Yeo. Throw in Kiwi skipper James Fisher-Harris and you start to see an abundance of leaders.

At Canterbury though they have entrusted the Samoan international to lead the club. It all started with a regular weekly coffee with Bulldogs coach Cameron Ciraldo about three weeks ago.

“We’ve known each other for a long time,” Crichton said. “He has been that father figure for me since Penrith. I didn’t think anything of it when he asked me for a coffee.

Stat recruit Stephen Crichton is ready to lead the Bulldogs. Picture: Richard Dobson

“He is a guy that I’ve always been able to talk to. It makes the leadership role a bit easier knowing he is a guy I can talk to and approach whenever I’ve wanted.

“When he first left (Penrith) we’d still meet up once a week because he was living out Penrith way and then he moved to the shire. After signing I tried to meet up with him a few times.

“He asked me how I felt about it. I found it pretty cool to lead the boys.

“I came to the club knowing I had experience but I didn’t come to the club thinking I’d be captain.”

Crichton made an early return to pre-season at training at Canterbury and immediately set about changing the culture of a side who have not played finals since 2016. Standards had slipped and in Crichton, Ciraldo knows he has someone who he can trust to help drive change.

Things will get tough for Crichton at some point. St George Illawarra skipper Ben Hunt has had his fair share of adversity but has played more than 300 games. He is still trying to learn the balance of management.

“Leadership is tough at times,” Hunt said. “One of the big lessons and I’m still learning is how to address different players when things are happening on the field.

“Because I’m so competitive and if things go wrong I get aggressive on the field and blow up. Last year was a good learning curve how to treat different players. If some players make a mistake and you rip their head off you won’t see them for the rest of the game. That’s something I learnt last year – how to approach different players.”

Crichton alongside rival skippers Isaah Yeo, Ben Hunt and Tom Dearden. Picture: NRL Images

Crichton takes over from former Penrith teammate Matt Burton who was co-captain with Reed Mahoney at the Bulldogs last year. One player who can relate to what Crichton may face is another ex-Panther in Api Koroisau. Success had largely followed Koroisau throughout this NRL career. Like Crichton he is a three-time premiership winner. However his first season in charge at the Tigers resulted in a wooden spoon.

“I didn’t know what to say especially towards the back end of the year,” Koroisau said. “We knew we weren’t going to play finals. It was a tough time. I didn’t mind being captain. I just found it hard to address blokes and found it hard to sell games. I am a lot more open-minded now to try and understand people as human beings not just footy players. When you’re on the field you can get lost and carried away in trying to win. At the end of the day they are human beings. You need to address them as humans.”

Crichton said he wants his captaincy style to be similar to what he sat under at Penrith.

“Someone easy to talk to,” Crichton said. “Someone that will always have the boys back on and off the field. I’ve been part of a few teams where I’ve seen what good leaders and bad leaders are. Having Nathan and Yeoy learning off them. They were perfect examples of how to be leaders and how to lead the team with your actions and your words.”