The Waqa wake-up call behind Critta's defensive mindset

It was a missed tackle on former Eels winger Waqa Blake that helped Stephen Crichton become arguably the best defensive centre in the game.

Four years might have passed since that day at CommBank Stadium but the Blues star can still recall Blake’s left foot step and palm to the face like it was yesterday.

Because it was in that moment the 23-year-old Bulldogs skipper stopped worrying about scoring tries and started focusing on saving them.

“It was 2020, Waqa palmed me and scored. We were beating them, but they went on to win the game, I took that really personally,” Crichton said at Blues camp on Wednesday.

“After that, I didn’t even want to play anymore. That was my first ever time getting put on the spot, watching a video with all the boys there where I had let the whole team down.

“I didn’t want to be in that position ever again and the reason I was in that position was because I wasn’t doing my homework as much as I should have and I wasn’t doing my tackling as much as I should have.

“Ever since that day, I’ve gone into my games with a defensive mindset to go out and make tackles and make the boys around you feel comfortable.

“There’s a lot of centres out there that are really good in attack but their defensive moments aren’t as good and I’m a massive believer in defence wins games as well.”

It was his now Bulldogs coach Cameron Ciraldo who turned the misread into motivation for Crichton.

The then Panthers defensive coach explained to the Samoan international that this was either going to make or break him as a centre and he still uses the clip today as an education tool at Bulldogs headquarters.

“I sat down with Cirro and said, ‘I want to be the best centre’ and he wrote down a few things and said, 'if you want to be the best centre, you’ve got to do all of these things'," Crichton recalled.

“After that, I went into games not looking for the ball in attack but looking to be a presence in the defensive line that can help our edge.

“I wasn’t giving my opposition the respect I should have and all those lessons from when I first played definitely helped me in my games now and I make sure I do my homework and my tackles throughout the week.

“I do one-on-one tackling with someone just to get that confidence and actually try and tackle someone hard.

"Bizza (To’o) was my tackling bag, so after every session he would just run at me and try and step and palm me and I would try practise my tackles that way.

“Cirro still shows that video at Dogs training for the younger generation that’s coming through and how fast you can change with the right mindset and the right people around you.

“I always sit down with the younger centres in grade that are coming through and do homework with them.

"I don’t really see myself as the best centre because there’s still so much improvement and so many things that I still get wrong but it’s just the mindset that you can turn it around and fix it.

"And I make sure I respect whoever I’m going up against each week and Hammer is a massive example as well."

One player Crichton will be giving the upmost respect in Origin II at the MCG next Wednesday is likely centre opponent Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow.

Scoring a hattrick in Queensland's Origin I victory in Sydney before returning to the Dolphins to steal the lead with a full-field try-of-the-year contender, the ‘Hammer’ heads to the Melbourne Cricket Ground in scintillating form.

“Hammer is probably one of the best with time and space and I think me just trying to go out and get him myself will hurt our edge and just leave a hole in the line," he said.

“Especially this camp, building that relationship with Moey (Moses), Moley (Olakau'atu) and Zac to know what their movements are and know what their movements are to know what my movements are.

“So, if I try and make a play, they know what’s going to happen if I miss it.

“Obviously we’ll do the homework on the other players; what they’re good at what they’re bad at, if I was to come out, what foot they would step off and things like that.

“It takes a lot to make the right read but it just comes down to training and knowing whose around you.”