Before 19-year-old superstar Stephen Crichton was carving it up for the Penrith Panthers first grade side, he was playing in Jersey Flegg in 2019 before being called up to the Canterbury Cup NSW side and he certainly didn’t disappoint.
In just seven games Chrichton amassed 28 tackle breaks, 933 run metres with 313.5 post-contact metres and bagged five tries so it was no wonder he made his NRL debut later in the year.
A memorable moment from the powerhouse came in Round 13 against the North Sydney Bears when he scored a hat-trick and produced 166 run metres from 16 runs and eight tackle breaks at centre.
193-centimetre Crichton backed it up in Round 15, where he scored a double against the Dragons, running for 141 metres and once again busting eight tackles.
Since then, he made his debut for Penrith alongside Matt Burton and Spencer Leniu in an upset victory against the Cronulla Sharks in August last year and has earned himself a spot in their starting side every week since the resumption of the NRL in May.
The NSW Under-20’s representative started the 2020 NRL season in a remarkable fashion, scoring a try against the Roosters in Round One after only being on the field for a matter of seconds.
As Crichton was coming on the field, Josh Mansour had made a break down the sideline and the winger put a kick back infield for Crichton to collect on the bounce and put down one-handed to mark his maiden NRL try.
We will no doubt be seeing more of this explosive talent in the game for years to come.
