Galvin needs to step up if Dogs are to survive

4 hours ago 3

Opinion

September 15, 2025 — 5.30am

There’s one thing that can’t be denied about the Bulldogs’ 2025 season - it all changed when Lachie Galvin arrived.

Until then, the delirious Belmore burn-outs on Burwood Road were a sign the faithful believed. Like truly believed.

The team was soaring at the top of the table, bursting into this season off the back of an unlikely finals appearance in 2024.

The joy of seeing their team perform well was overtaken by a sense that they might actually be able to win it. For the first time in 21 years.

Four-time premiers the Panthers were bombing out and a real sense of change was in the air.

That was thanks to not only the Bulldogs’ early efforts, but also the entertaining Raiders.

When Galvin, still 19 at the time, forced his way out of the Wests Tigers off the back of a bullying complaint and a public decry that Benji Marshall was not the coach for him, the Bulldogs pounced.

At the time we were told it was a play for ‘the future’. The Dogs saw him as a generational player who would drive premiership charges for a decade to come.

Which might all be true, long term. But lurking beneath it all was Galvin’s desire to be ‘The Man’, a halfback who drove the team around the park.

He had only played five-eighth under Marshall. The arrival of Jarome Luai from Penrith meant that would continue, as Luai also wanted to be The Man.

Who could blame him? The poor bugger had been forced to play second banana during a run of four straight titles behind a true generational player in Nathan Cleary.

Lachlan Galvin playing against the Storm last Friday.

The thing about being The Man is, when you want to be one, there can only be one.

So, Galvin arrived at Belmore and, within weeks, he was no longer a five-eighth. He was suddenly wearing number seven, the true number of those wanting to rule the roost. At the same time, Bulldogs coach Cameron Ciraldo fell out of love with the tough, but undisciplined hooker Reed Mahoney.

The spine which drove Canterbury to the top - Mahoney, Toby Sexton, Matt Burton and Connor Tracey - was shredded. Sexton was out and told to look elsewhere, as was Mahoney.

In came Galvin, now a seven instead of a six, and Bailey Hayward, another ‘generational player’, at hooker.

Losses began creeping in and the doof-doofing in downtown Belmore lost some of its boom boom.

Now we are here and the Bulldogs are staring down the barrel of a straight-sets finals exit, a soul-destroying way for a season to end.

Also psychologically hard to deal with in the years to come. Canterbury have lost four of their past five matches, the lone win coming over the Panthers’ NSW Cup side after Ivan Cleary rested 16 players. Even that effort was ordinary.

Penrith overcame a valiant Warriors in Auckland and will be very hard for Canterbury to beat next weekend. Not only are the halves stuttering, injuries to Stephen Crichton and several other key players make the task even more impossible.

Ciraldo has always given an air of confidence as he dramatically changed his winning side to accommodate Galvin. Almost as if the rest of us mere mortal football fans don’t quite get it.

If we can’t see what he’s doing, and what Galvin and the new-look spine are doing better than the early season spine well, then, that’s our problem.

Our ‘footy IQ’ is better left to a passionate discussion over a kebab, not behind the ‘four walls’ at Belmore, as captain Crichton said during the week.

Because there, they all get ‘it’.

If that’s true, they better find ‘it’ fast, or the four-time premiers will end it on Saturday night.

If that happens, behind those ‘four walls’, they need to look hard at themselves and consider this undeniable stat.

When Galvin joined the Bulldogs after round 12, they were leading the competition. The Panthers were running last.

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