{"id":333077,"date":"2023-09-22T13:04:09","date_gmt":"2023-09-22T13:04:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=333077"},"modified":"2023-09-22T14:01:23","modified_gmt":"2023-09-22T14:01:23","slug":"crucial-call-that-drew-legends-praise-for-bodyguard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=333077","title":{"rendered":"Crucial call that drew legend's praise for 'bodyguard'"},"content":{"rendered":"

Panthers<\/a> departing hero Stephen Crichton has been praised for his "bodyguard" type role after a vintage performance from the Origin star which included a crucial captain's challenge during the 38-4 win<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Crichton, who celebrated his 23rd birthday on Friday, \ufeffplayed next to five-eighth Jarome Luai as the five-eighth continues to recover from a dislocated shoulder.<\/p>\n

Panthers premiership-winner Brad Fittler<\/a> praised the call by coach Ivan Cleary to put its best possible combinations together, with a superb defender alongside a vulnerable star. \ufeff<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> 'Wow': Blues coach questioned over brutal shake-up<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> New coach's big call on future of Tigers great Dusty<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> The 4.30am text that proves World Cup intent<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

"They put their best defender next to him (Luai) in Stephen Crichton," he said on Nine's coverage.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

"You noticed early in the game he barely got a touch of the ball, his whole focus was being his bodyguard and looking after him."<\/p>\n

Crichton, who has signed with Canterbury Bulldogs for next season<\/a>, said a fourth straight grand final appearance was the aim for this side.<\/p>\n

"Pretty special being my \ufefflast year here, I think this was the goal at the start of the year," he told Nine's Danika Mason.<\/p>\n

Stream every game of the 2023 NRL finals series live and free on<\/strong><\/em> <\/em>9Now<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

"These guys have been with me since the start of the journey from my debut, all the way here it's been the same group … it was good to get the win in front of our home fans and in front of my family too."<\/p>\n

Post-game Fittler continued to sing the praises of Crichton after coaching him throughout his \ufeffsix NSW Blues appearances.<\/p>\n

The centre was \ufeffalso involved in a captain's challenge early in the second half when the Storm were given a 20 metre restart. However, Crichton encouraged Nathan Cleary to challenge and footage revealed fullback Nick Meaney had not put his foot down in the in-goal when catching the ball.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

"He's an incredibly mature person … he makes so many clear, smart, mature decisions on the field, in defence," Fittler said.<\/p>\n

"You saw the one tonight where he went to the video referee when Meaney put his foot into the in goal, that was all Stephen Crichton. He's sharp."<\/p>\n

At one point the Panthers combinations did let them down early in the match when Izack Tago failed to tackle Justin Olam one-on-one, leading to the Storm's only try.<\/p>\n

\"NRL<\/p>\n

Fittler believes that\ufeff's an area Penrith will have to address, particularly if the Broncos manage to defeat the Warriors on Saturday.<\/p>\n

"On the other hand, Izack Tago on the other side, he had the pec injury," he said.<\/p>\n

"I thought it was smart not having them (Luai and Tago) together. I just didn't see … the only time they looked vulnerable was when Olam went at young Izack Tago who hasn't been used to tackling for quite a while now, he had an injury leading into that pec injury which he did at training and he's going to have to work pretty hard this week because he's got Herbie Farnworth running at him with Reece Walsh … they're lethal."<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Panthers departing hero Stephen Crichton has been praised for his "bodyguard" type role after a vintage performance from the Origin star which included a crucial […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":333079,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333077"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=333077"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333077\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":333083,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333077\/revisions\/333083"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/333079"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=333077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=333077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=333077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}