Cameron Ciraldo and Phil Gould have been criticised for trying to turn potentially a great five-eighth in Lachlan Galvin into a halfback as the Bulldogs 2026 season implodes.
The Bulldogs have won just one of their last six games to sit 12th and yet Ciraldo still persists with Galvin as his halfback, despite the club struggling with their attack.
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Galvin has been one of the few bright lights for the Bulldogs this season and his form has been solid, but it still appears like he is a five-eighth unsure of his role as a No.7.
Braith Anasta believes Galvin is going to be one of the best playmakers in the game in the coming years, but stressed it won’t happen if he stays at halfback.
“Lachlan Galvin is going to be a great five-eighth, but they’re playing him halfback,” Anasta said on NRL 360.
“No one’s criticising him. He’s doing a great job and the best job he can, but it’s a problem because he’s not playing five-eighth. That’s a problem.
“He’s not the problem, but he’s going to be a great five-eighth. He will be one of the best over the last 10 or 20, 30 years I believe because we’re seeing how well he’s going at No.7, given the circumstances that he’s been thrust into.
“So imagine if he’s got the freedom of playing No.6 with someone controlling the game inside of him?”
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Fox League’s Paul Crawley questioned why the Bulldogs are wasting time developing Galvin in the wrong position if they don’t see him as their long-term halfback.
“All the champions that have played that position say he’s a five-eighth, but they’re spending their time developing him as a halfback, knowing that at some stage he’s going to go back to the position,” Crawley said.
“Why not let him develop in the position that he’s best suited to?
“That’s where I’m saying the club have made a mistake even when Galvin arrived last year, I truly believe they would have been better off giving him time away from the spotlight to develop in NSW Cup and stick with what they had.
“They already had Matt Burton to play five-eighth, so if that being the case, they didn’t need another five-eighth at that point. What they needed was a halfback if they decided Sexton wasn’t the bloke.”
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However, The Daily Telegraph’s Dave Riccio pointed out that the club’s long-term No.7 Mitchell Woods is not ready due to repeated hamstring injuries.
“Woods is not ready, he can’t get on the training paddock,” Riccio said.
“He was a super-talented AFL and rugby union player. They were after him. All the AFL clubs were after him. He had to make a call, AFL or league.
“And just due to the differences in those sports, his ability to get the workload into his legs has caused issues with his hamstrings and he hasn’t been able to get on the training paddock and get the load in to be ready for an NRL campaign.”
Crawley pointed out that Galvin is not the only Bulldogs playmaker confused with his role, with Matt Burton a shadow of the player he was last season.
“We know what Matt Burton’s capable of as a footballer, but at the moment, he doesn’t look like he’s got any confidence whatsoever and he looks confused in his role and I think that sort of spreads across the team,” Crawley said.
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“There’s this swapping and changing of different players into different positions and the constant speculation that goes on around his head when it comes to his future, and will he pushed out or will Galvin end up at five-eighth?”
Crawley feels the blame for the Bulldogs’ unbalanced roster should fall at the feet of Phil Gould, who has put this team together over the last five years.
“I think all this points to the bigger problem at the Bulldogs, which goes to the top of the club, it’s Gus Gould,” Crawley said.
“Gus is a rugby league genius. He’s proven to have one of the sharpest minds in the game, but he can also get too smart for himself and I truly believe that little bits that have happened here with the recruitment of Galvin, I don’t think that’s improved the squad.
“I think when you look back at a lot of the utility-type players that they brought on board, initially under Ciraldo, there was five of six of them, for a while it looked like it was working, now it doesn’t look like it’s working.
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“I think the lack of speed in the side, all these different things says to me that in the five years Gus has been there, I don’t think we’ve seen the changes that right now should be coming to fruition.”
However, Anasta feels the Bulldogs can still turn it around, but they have to make a call on Galvin playing halfback in the next few weeks and then start hammering down some combinations, while a change of style might also be the solution.
“I think it’s more the style they’re playing, the intensity they’re playing at, and playing more to their strengths, more so than their weaknesses,” Anasta said.
“I actually think they’ve got a team that can turn it around this year. Listen, I don’t think they can win the comp after seeing what I’ve seen the last couple of months, but I can definitely see them still making the top eight with this side, even with Galvin and Burton in the halves.
“But they’ve either got to stick with them and play better with the team they’ve got, or make significant changes, and that’s probably going to be dictated over the next month.”
However, Gorden Tallis warned the Bulldogs can’t keep chopping and changing their side and expect consistency.
“Stop making changes, so the players sit in their slots and believe where they’re playing,” Tallis said.
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