Canterbury Bulldogs coach Cameron Ciraldo has admitted his side are still a work in progress, but was happy with what he saw from a switch in the halves during a 33-20 loss to the Cronulla Sharks at Homebush on Saturday evening.
Tuesday afternoon's team lists brought with it the rumour that Karl Oloapu would debut after Kyle Flanagan was moved to five-eighth, and Matt Burton to halfback.
However, they ran out as named, with Burton taking charge of the team in the number seven jersey for the first time in his career.
The game was the first time Canterbury scored more than 20 points since their Round 3 loss to the Wests Tigers, but the loss to the Sharks means they have now only won one of their last five.
That comes as Canterbury continue to grapple with an injury crisis, but Ciraldo said he was happy with what he saw from his new-look spine against the Sharks.
"I thought we looked good at times [with the switch in the halves]. I thought we looked dangerous," Ciraldo said during his post-game press conference.
"Everytime Matt [Burton] ran the ball and got the ball in his hands, we looked dangerous. We are still a work in progress. The spine has played eight games together now and are still trying to work it out.
"We are missing some players there that we probably used in the pre-season to work towards and get them the ball in crucial positions. I thought it was an improvement on previous weeks."
The game saw Flanagan's kick metres almost non-existent, only striking the ball off the boot twice for 29 metres, while his own running game came to the fire, making 81 metres from 10 carries of the football, with an offload and a tackle break included on his personal stats sheet in the loss.
Ciraldo said he was happy with the work Flanagan did on the right edge.
"I think he [Kyle Flangan] saw opportunities to run and play what he saw. We wanted him to hold up that right edge and feed the ball to guys like [Jake] Averillo and give him opportunities. I thought at times we did that, we got a try off it in the first half," Ciraldo said on Flanagan.
"I thought Kyle simplified his game a little bit and I was happy he was running the ball."
Despite moving into the controlling role, Burton still ran 14 times for 98 metres, while also adding a try assist and kicking for 423 metres.
The halfback, who played in the centres for the New South Wales Blues on State of Origin debut last year, said his mindset heading into the game against the Sharks didn't change much despite the role switch.
"Not too much," Burton said when asked how much his mindset had changed switching to the number seven jersey.
"I just wanted to get the ball in my hands a bit more, but we just lacked in periods of the game there where we could have gone after it, but we just have to be better for it."
"I tried to stand up and lead the boys around the park [in the final 20 minutes], but still learning," Burton added.
It's tipped that the Bulldogs will stick with their change in the halves for next week's game when they take on the St George Illawarra Dragons in Wollongong.
