The news leaked out on Sunday, apparently Lachlan Galvin told some friends on the quiet, but nothing in rugby league is on the quiet, and soon it was everywhere that he would be joining the Bulldogs, as early as this week. The promising young talent who decided that his future was not best served at the Wests Tigers, despite still being under contract, is off to the ladder-leading Bulldogs.
With future star halfback Mitchell Woods making his way through the grades, it seems that the Bulldogs have set themselves up for a very bright future. But what about the 2025 NRL season, the one where they have lost just the two games and hold down top spot on the NRL ladder after 12 rounds? What happens now?
Bulldogs coach Cameron Ciraldo has built a team out of bit-part players, all of whom have completely bought into the ideology that a team can be greater than the sum of its parts. There are no real superstars, apart from captain Stephen Crichton, there is just a squad of off-cuts and no names who together form a formidable unit. They each know that their true value to the club is not measured in dollars, it is measured in effort. They turn up each and every week like a family going into battle, knowing that they can trust the man next to them to give his all for the cause.
Now, as they sit atop the ladder, they have been effectively told that what they have built is not going to be good enough to take the title. That their loyal-to-a-fault mate, Toby Sexton, is not quite up to the job, and somehow this kid who has just left the struggling Tigers will be shoehorned into the squad to give it a competitive edge. Galvin, who apparently walked out on his contract because he didn't buy into what coach Benji Marshall was building, has seen the greener pastures of Belmore and has run to join their party.
Bulldogs fans well remember another star player who walked out on a contract for greener pastures. The Bulldogs were on the wrong end of the Sonny Bill Williams fiasco way back in 2008, and the fans still treat anyone capable of such a move with skepticism.
But what of Galvin's new teammates and where exactly does he fit into the settled and successful squad? According to Phil Gould, that is yet to be determined.
"He's very versatile," Gould said on Channel Nine.
"He's played fullback, five-eighth, halfback. The first time I saw him play, I thought he'd end up a back-rower.
"I know he's going to be a very good player and we'd like to be a part of his development
"He's extremely gifted, he's a creative player. He's big and tall ... what I know is you win comps with talented players.
"And our aim is to be competitive to win premierships. And Lachlan Galvin is a player you want at your club down the track."
Does Galvin go straight into halfback for Sexton? He doesn't seem to be the organisational halfback that the Bulldogs need. Does he go to five-eighth with Matt Burton shifted to either the lock position or the centres? And what then of Kurt Mann, Bronson Xerri or Stephen Crichton? Does he go to lock or No.14 to start with? What then of Mann and Bailey Heyward? All of these players have made huge contributions to the 2025 success, will Galvin improve the team if he replaces any of them?
At the risk of wasting the reported $750,000 salary for at least a couple of months, should the Bulldogs tell Galvin that he has to earn his spot in this team? Take him over to the NSW Cup team and introduce him to Woods, who is around the same age and has been biding his time, building his skill level. Tell Galvin that he and Woods are the halves pairing of the future for the Bulldogs and it is up to them to build a compelling partnership, one that will demand promotion to first grade. Because for now, Sexton and Burton are the successful first grade pairing.
Team culture and morale are extremely brittle and valuable commodities. It would be quite easy to draw a line between the intensifying talk of signing Galvin and the completely un-Bulldogs-like second half capitulation against the Dolphins on Thursday night. While none of us can claim the all-seeing rugby league wisdom of Phil Gould, it is not that difficult to recognise when a club has something special brewing on the field and in the sheds. And there have been plenty of examples of really good teams losing that magic through an unpopular management decision.
The Bulldogs have two weeks to make this all make sense to the playing group before they face the Eels. If Gould and Ciraldo think the team will happily cast aside one of their own, to accommodate Galvin, then we will see him run out in a Bulldogs jersey carrying a number which is yet to be determined.
Of course many will argue that the players are all professionals, and that they should be happy for any talent upgrade that will help them be successful, but rugby league is a very tough sport. The NRL is incredibly competitive. You only need a couple of players feeling slightly disgruntled and off their game for the whole house of cards to crumble. Especially a team like the 2025 Bulldogs, whose strength has been built on camaraderie and hard work.
After years of suffering, Bulldogs fans have finally had something to smile about. A competitive team, at the top of the ladder, playing good footy, but more importantly each player giving their all for the club. If this signing messes with that current euphoric feeling, I'm not sure any of them will ever forgive Gould. For now it remains 'In Gus We Trust", fingers firmly crossed hoping that the Galvin signing is a good thing.
The ultimate nightmare for fans is that Galvin's arrival will ruin the Bulldogs' 2025 season, and that he might not even stick around to fulfil his potential with the club.