'Wouldn't be surprised': Billy Slater tips Bronson Xerri exit after Crichton injury call

Billy Slater says he wouldn't be surprised if Bronson Xerri left the Bulldogs after he was overlooked when Stephen Crighton left the field injured in the loss to Souths.

Crichton was injured early in the second half and had to leave the field, forcing a change for the Bulldogs.

The centre hurt his AC joint after he was tackled by Jack Wighton and Campbell Graham minutes after half-time.

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Instead of bringing Xerri, who was on the six-man bench, into the game, coach Cameron Ciraldo elected for the second weekend in a row to move Matt Burton to centre and Sean O'Sullivan into the halves.

Xerri hasn't played for the Bulldogs since the opening round in Las Vegas.

At the time of Crichton's injury the Bulldogs were winning 18-12 but the Rabbitohs gained the upper hand.

NRL great Cameron Smith described the Bullodogs' decision not to replace Crichton with Xerri as a "strange move" while his former Storm teammate Slater expected Xerri to leave.

"Bonson Xerri is a left centre, like an out and out left centre, that's why he went back to reserve grade because they moved him over to the right," Slater said on Nine's coverage.

"They put Sean O'Sullivan in the halves and they moved Matt Burton.

"That was a really interesting move and just shows you where Bronson Xerri sits right now. I wouldn't be surprised if he's not at that club for very much longer."

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Smith declared post-match that Crichton's injury was the "turning point" in the match.

"The coach then chose to put on Sean O'Sullivan instead of Bronson Xerri, we thought that was a strange move," he said.

"From there, the attack just stopped, it was very lacklustre and they couldn't find points."

Speaking after the game, Connor Tracey admitted the Bulldogs were prepared for the switch.

"We've got Matt there who's trained at centre, he does a good job there," he told Nine's Ruan Sims.

"We've trained for those situations, it was unlucky to fall away there."

Ciraldo explained the decision to not put Xerri on the field in his press conference, saying it was to do with communication.

"When you lose your best communicator, I needed to get another communicator out there," he said.

"Sean's one of the best for that."