The NRL 360 panel believe Phil Gould’s lavish praise of dumped Wests Tigers five-eighth Lachlan Galvin clearly indicates a desire to recruit Galvin at the Bulldogs.
Gould, the Bulldogs General Manager of Football, has heaped praise on Galvin.
“I think he’s the best teenage footballer I’ve ever seen. I think what he is doing is absolutely extraordinary,” Gould said of Galvin last year on his Six Tackles with Gus podcast.
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“Lachlan Galvin will earn more money out of rugby league than any other player in history.
“In the future, whoever has Lachlan Galvin in their side will be winning premierships.”
However, Braith Anasta, the host of NRL 360, believed Gould’s praise of Galvin was excessive.
Anasta went on to list a host of names including Brad Fittler, Bradley Clyde and Nathan Cleary as players ahead of Galvin as teenagers stamping their mark in first grade.
“Gus Gould… if he’s not the brightest mind in our game, he’s in the top two or three,” Anasta said on Tuesday night on Fox League.
“I respect him as much as any in our game and his opinion, but this one I just can’t align with, that he’s the best teenager he’s ever seen.
“I find it intriguing this praise from Gus, I find it over the top.”
Others on the panel believed Gould’s comments were an obvious sales pitch for Galvin to join Canterbury.
“Let’s be fair dinkum here, he’s making a pitch. He’s making a pitch for a player, you are not allowed to privately court a player, but obviously publicly you can,” journalist Paul Crawley said.
“Braith, you make complete sense. Brad Clyde was winning competitions when he was 18, Laurie Daley also, Brad Fittler. These sort of guys, Gus goes back to the 80s.
“Players like Brett Kenny and Peter Sterling were winning comps at 21 years of age, we have had so many footballers, it’s extreme praise.”
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Columnist with The Australian, Andrew Webster, said that other clubs are growing tired of Gould using his profile as a mainstream media identity to help him attract players to the Bulldogs.
“This is the stuff that drives other clubs insane, because he’s clearly pitching up for him and using that platform,” Webster said with a wry smile.
“These blokes who have got television programs with conflicts of interest, it’s a disgrace.
“That’s where Gus is smart, he gets the ball rolling and a narrative starting. He plants the seed in Lachlan Galvin’s parent’s heads and in the kid’s head that he’s keen on him.
“Unless you’re aware of it, you don’t know it is happening.”
But Crawley pointed out that Gould isn’t breaking any rules.
“There’s no rules that say he can’t do what he’s doing, in that respect it is smart administration,” Crawley said.
“Because if he is trying to make a play for Lachlan Galvin and he ultimately ends up getting him, that’s a good thing for the Bulldogs is it not.”
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Adding to the intrigue is that the SMH’s Danny Weidler also reported on the weekend Toby Sexton was yet to begin negotiations with the Bulldogs regarding a contract extension.
Webster said that move highlighted the “pieces of the puzzle coming together” with Gould potentially set to make a play for the teenager.
However, it remains to be seen how he fits into Cameron Ciraldo’s side, with Anasta explaining that Galvin and Burton are both five-eighths.
“You’d have to leave Sexton there, you can’t have Galvin and Burton next to each other,” Anasta said.
On Tuesday, the Tigers dumped Galvin to NSW Cup, and he will be replaced by skipper Jarome Luai at five-eighth, with Adam Doueihi named at halfback for their clash against the Eels.
That development comes after the Tigers released a statement on Monday, announcing that Galvin would be leaving the club at the end of 2026, when his contract expires.
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