NRL news 2026: Lachlan Galvin and Stephen Crichton blow-up; Sydney Roosters vs Canterbury Bulldogs result, video

Canterbury have blown a 10-point lead in a result that went begging against the Roosters, with an incident between Lachlan Galvin and Stephen Crichton summing up the side’s frustration as their NRL finals hopes hang in the balance.

With five minutes to go, the Chooks were leading 20-18 and Nine’s Johnathan Thurston said it was “a moment for Lachy Galvin to stand up”.

His comment came just as Galvin tried to fire a pass to Crichton inside his own half on the fourth tackle. Crichton knocked the ball on and to add insult to injury, Galvin picked up the ball in an offside position.

Galvin then let Crichton know about his frustration.

“Two halves on different pages,” Billy Slater said.

Post-game, Crichton put the error down to a “lack of clarity”.

“Confusion causes errors, it’s an easy fix that comes to just us talking more,” he said.

The high-flying Roosters came into the match off the back of a 82-12 win against the Cowboys and led 8-2 thanks to tries for Billy Smith and Siua Wong.

At half-time, Andrew Johns was strong in his suggestion that the Bulldogs needed a threat out of dummy-half, despite praising the work ethic of Bailey Hayward.

“There needs to be a run threat out of dummy half, Bailey works so hard on effort areas but probably chews too much petrol up … there’s got to be a run threat off the bench,” he said on Nine.

Four minutes into the second half, it was like Hayward had been listening.

The hooker ran from inside his own half and linked up with teammate Jacob Kiraz, who ran 30 metres to score and level the scores at a rocking Allianz Stadium.

Galvin scored to put them ahead, before Kiraz extended the lead in the corner.

With those tries, it looked like the Bulldogs would run home with victory, but the Roosters stayed alive through a Smith try in the corner with 14 mintues left.

Moments later, a smart kick from Sam Walker was centred near the tryline as Galvin, Connor Tracey and Kiraz all looked at each other and let the ball bounce.

That led to Salesi Foketi pouncing and scoring what became the match-winner.

The final 10 minutes included multiple captain’s challenges, but the Bulldogs couldn’t land a final blow as errors continued to hurt them.

Canterbury also had an injury blow to Sitili Tupouniua who left the field with a hamstring injury, a problem he had just returned from.

“He’s felt it in the same spot he injured it eight weeks ago so it’s not ideal,” coach Cameron Ciraldo said.

“He’s pretty devastated because he was training really well and excited to get back playing … he’s pretty shattered.”