Lachlan Galvin was “over hyped” as the best teenage footballer Bulldogs general manager Phil Gould had seen, according to NRL journalists, as questions linger over Canterbury’s decision to replace Toby Sexton mid-season.
After weeks of dithering at the selection table, coach Cameron Ciraldo parachuted Galvin into the halfback spot above Sexton for the Bulldogs’ Round 20 clash with the Dragons last month.
Since then, the Bulldogs’ fortunes have been mixed, winning three and losing two of their five games.
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By comparison, the Bulldogs had won nine and lost only two of their first 11 games to start this season before Galvin had signed with the club, with Sexton steering the ship at halfback.
On NRL 360 on Tuesday night, the panel discussed whether Galvin had been talked up too much in the media prior to joining the Bulldogs.
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“Is the problem here that maybe Galvin was over hyped at the beginning and the media around him and how amazing he was and the best prodigy in the game and all that?” host Braith Anasta asked.
Journalist Andrew Webster pointed out that it was in fact Gould, the Bulldogs’ General Manager of Football, who had lavished praise upon Galvin in the media.
“From the bloke that signed him,” Webster replied, referencing Gould.
“But they drove that narrative,” Crawley added.
“Who drove it?” Anasta asked Crawley.
“Gus did. When he came out and said ‘he’s the best teenager I’ve ever seen,’” Crawley responded.
“We’ve all over many decades seen some bloody good teenagers come along.
“And can you say Lachlan Galvin is definitively even in the top group? Let alone the best of the best.
“It was an over exaggeration from Gus that led this.”
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Co-host Gorden Tallis believes Galvin wouldn’t be in the top 10 teenagers Gould has seen, with no need for the Bulldogs – who won their first six games of the season – to replace Sexton with Galvin.
“The thing for me, if I’m a Dogs fan, if I put my Dogs fan hat on, it wasn’t broken,” Tallis said.
“We were going along, we were getting 60,000, the buzz was there, the drums were beating.
“And they changed what wasn’t broken. I think they haven’t improved.
“And I think the Tigers have improved once he’s left. And for some reason it’s not working.
“At the moment, would you say the Dogs were better six weeks ago? I would say yes.”
Galvin is just 20 years of age and is playing just his second season of first grade.
Crawley believes these are his main issues.
“The biggest question that I certainly had was not so much that Galvin hasn’t got the talent but it’s the experience and his age,” Crawley added.
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Anasta said Raiders five-eighth Ethan Strange and Dolphins halfback Isaiya Katoa are both tracking better than Galvin at this stage.
“Ethan Strange and Katoa are ahead of him right now, in my eyes,” Anasta said.
“So there’s two right now.”
Webster wondered whether Canterbury would consider reinstating Sexton.
“If they limp into the finals, that’s the question,” Webster said.
“Is (Ciraldo) going to stick with him or go with Toby Sexton?”
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