Ciraldo confirms return timeline for Kikau, Burton, provides update on Crichton

Canterbury Bulldogs head coach Cameron Ciraldo has confirmed both Matt Burton and Viliame Kikau are due back after the club's bye.

The duo have been out in recent weeks having suffered MCL injuries at the same time, but the Bulldogs haven't missed a beat without the two stars.

Their latest win came on Sunday evening with a 20-0 shut out of the injury-plagued Newcastle Knights.

 Sunday, April 6 

 

 

 

Accor Stadium

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20

FT

0

   NEW

   Crowd: 24,113

MATCH CENTRE ▶︎   

The performance extended Canterbury's season start to five and zero, and Ciraldo said both players should be back for Round 7 when his side face the South Sydney Rabbitohs in the Good Friday clash, although the coach admitted it will create some selection headaches.

“It looks like they [Burton and Kikau] will be back. They had a good run today so they have a few boxes to tick this week and then hopefully they are available for selection for the Good Friday game,” Ciraldo said on the injured duo," Ciraldo said in his post-match press conference.

“Back here, it's going to be a big crowd and an enjoyable occasion, but it looks like we might have some tough decisions to make.”

Club captain Stephen Crichton was also seen grabbing at a shoulder during the game, but Ciraldo said the hope was it was only a burner, and credited the centre for playing through pain.

“He got a burner last year at some stage and he said it felt similar to that. We thought we were going to have to take him off, but it just shows you how tough he is. He just refuses to come off at times, he stayed out there and still had a big contribution,” Ciraldo said on Crichton.

Ciraldo said it was 'awesome' the way his club are building their depth.

“It's awesome. We have a number of guys in NSW Cup who are NRL players. That's what you want, that's how you build a successful club. Anytime Canterbury has been successful in the past it has had strong NSW Cup teams and strong Jersey Flegg teams. That's what we are trying to build,” Ciraldo said on the club's depth.

“We had a lot of guys out tonight, but we didn't speak about that all week, it was speaking about who was in and how we were going to get the job done.”