Bulldogs encouraged to be careful over stars' fitness before Vegas

The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs are faced with a major selection dilemma heading into Round 1, with Matt Burton and Leo Thompson injured during the second week of trials.

Burton left the field with a hamstring injury in the 24th minute of the Bulldogs’ trial against the Knights, while Thompson was a late scratching from the Maori All-Stars clash with a calf injury.

With the Bulldogs’ season opener in Las Vegas, a little under two weeks away, rushing Burton and Thompson back for one of the season’s crown jewels could raise the risk of aggravating the injuries, leading to more time on the sidelines in a season touted as more competitive than most before.

Bulldogs GM Phil Gould provided early updates on Burton and Thompson on social media.

“(Burton’s injury) doesn’t look to be major, but we don’t have x-ray eyes… Matt is in good spirits and sounds very confident,” Gould wrote on X.

“Leo will have scans when he returns home. He has “general tightness” in his calf muscle. He didn’t appear to experience an incident or acute injury.

“When asked if he could’ve played if it was a Grand Final, he said he probably couldn’t. That’s a concern.”

If ruled out, new recruit Sean O’Sullivan looms as the likely replacement for Burton.

The 27-year-old joined the club this off-season following 60 games across the Roosters, Warriors, Broncos, Panthers, and Dolphins.

For Thompson, the Bulldogs have no shortage of props, with Sam Hughes, Josh Curran, and Harry Hayes some of the options to start in the former Knight’s absence.

Speaking on SEN's Front Office with Vossy, journalist David Riccio believes the Bulldogs have to take a cautious approach with Burton and Thompson, debating if the fixture is important enough to risk the stars in.

“(It’s) by far the biggest story of the weekend as far as the trials are concerned,” Riccio said.

“It's a developing one, (we’re) still awaiting scan results of the hamstring. Either way, he's in doubt and it's a case of what do you do here?

“Let's just say that he's out, not playing, do you still take him anyway as a mentor and guiding hand… for what will be a brand new set of halves for a Bulldogs round one performance… or do you keep Matt Burton behind and rehab him and get him ready?”

“(Leo Thompson’s) really interesting, he's had an in and out pre-season.

“He went and got some personal training with personal trainer Justin Lang to bring him up to conditioning that the Bulldogs wanted throughout this December-January period and he's picked up that calf problem in the All-Stars.

“Again, you need to be careful, it's only round one and while it is on the biggest stage, the Bulldogs also know that they want Leo Thompson firing in the finals, not specifically round one.”

As two of the marquee players travelling to Vegas, fans and the NRL will be hoping the duo recover well enough to take part in the match.

The Bulldogs play the Dragons on March 1 in Las Vegas, following the Cowboys v Knights season opener.