NRL world says same thing about Lachlan Galvin as halfback produces mixed performance
The Bulldogs named Galvin at halfback for their clash on Saturday evening, with Sexton relegated to reserve grade.
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It came after the Bulldogs only managed to score two tries in their 12-8 victory over the Cowboys last week.
And as a result, Cameron Ciraldo pulled the trigger, parachuting Galvin into the starting side.
But once again, his performance was split between pieces of brilliance and being completely ineffectual.
The youngster crossed for a try early in the first half, backing up on the inside of Stephen Crichton after the representative centre broke the line.
And he finished his performance by throwing a cutout pass to winger Jethro Rinakama, who scored in the corner to secure the two-point victory.
But in between the pieces of quality, Galvin struggled to get a foothold in the match.
The 20-year-old made several poor defensive reads and overplayed his hand in attack as the Bulldogs continue to struggle to recapture their early-season form.
After going into the break 10 points up against the Dragons, some questionable efforts from the halfback helped the Red V back into the game.
And it was his defensive effort that saw the Dragons take the lead 18-16 in the second half that drew groans from Canterbury supporters.
As St George shifted the ball from right to left, Galvin charged out of the line to put pressure on Dragons half Kyle Flanagan, who effortlessly passed to Clint Gutherson, creating an overlap.
The 20-year-old then made no effort to chase back, jogging to the line as the Red V drew and passed before Sione Finau scored in the corner.
You can watch the moment in the player at the top of the page.
And it had Dogs fans all left saying the same thing.
'Galvin has single-handedly ruined the Bulldogs' season,' one fan wrote on X.
'Is Galvin the worst defensive half in the comp?' another asked.
'Can we give him back. What is Galvin doing?' a third added.
However, his moment of quality at the end showed what he can do. But fans still aren't convinced.
'Rough second half, Galvin nervous, needs to breathe and just play. Ended the game with a fantastic pass though, has promise, just needs to play his best,' one fan said.
'Galvin literally did two good things in the whole damn game, and played crap for the rest of it, but bring on the ignoring the crap part,' another said.
'Oh, finally a win ffs lmao good on ya doggies. Galvin actually showed what he CAN do,' a third Dogs fan said.
'What a rubbish 78 minutes and then that. Galvin is a rollercoaster,' a fourth wrote.
Cameron Ciraldo's call to drop Toby Sexton season-defining
The Dogs built their formidable form off effort areas, somewhere Galvin has come up short to date.
Since Galvin joined the club, the Bulldogs in Round 14, the former league leaders have not beaten a current top 8 team.
And the decision to pick the youngster is likely to be a season-defining one, one way or another.
Over the last two seasons, Sexton has played 32 games, with the Bulldogs winning 23 of those and losing just 9, for a win percentage of 71.9.
In the same period, Sexton has missed 9 games, with the Bulldogs winning just 3 and losing 6 of those.
Now that Ciraldo has opted to go with Galvin over Sexton, he will surely stick with it.
Galvin has shown that he is a star of the future, but time will tell if he's ready to lead a team to premiership glory right now.
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After one game he was rejected by the Knights. It spurred his next 125 NRL appearances
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It would be the Kincumber Colts junior's only first-grade game for the club. "It was old boys' day, I didn't play too bad. I didn't light the house on fire, but I thought I was going to get a contract out of that," Starling said. "But I didn't hear anything back from them. "I don't know if my manager was sheltering me from it ... but ... I run into [former Knights football manager] Darren Mooney down the beach, he was leaving the club ... and I'm just sort of in no man's land waiting for a call and he goes: 'Have you found anything yet?' "I'm like, 'What do you mean?' And he goes, 'Oh, haven't they told you? They think you're too small and they're going to bring in another [hooker].' "I rang my manager up and said: 'We've got to go find something else'. "At the time I probably used it as motivation, but looking back on it now, they obviously needed to win right away and thought they'd move in a different direction." Starling, who recalled his Newcastle exit on an episode of the Backstage with Cooper and Matty Johns podcast this week, isn't the first Knights product to go on and have a successful career elsewhere after being overlooked, and he certainly won't be the last. It's the nature of the sport. The Knights have a huge catchment area to potentially draw junior players from, ranging from the Central Coast in the south, the Upper Hunter in the west and up along the coast to the north. The club's modus operandi is to try and find and develop the best of them, but you simply can't keep them all. Knights management have previously said, however, that for a period of time they weren't as focused on their own backyard as they should have been. In recent years, the likes of Grant Anderson (Melbourne Storm), Kurt Donoghoe (The Dolphins) and Starling's Canberra teammates Zac Hosking and Simi Sasagi have become established NRL players after spending time in Newcastle's development system. All of them have admitted that their Newcastle rejections spurred them on other clubs. Starling, now 27, has played 126 NRL games - all but one of them for Canberra Hosking, 28, was twice named Newcastle's NSW Cup player of the year, but couldn't get a start in first grade and left for Brisbane ahead of the 2022 season where he made his NRL debut that year. He has now played 47 NRL games. Canberra have made somewhat of a habit of signing former Knights players or Hunter products. In addition to Starling, Hosking and Sasagi, the Raiders' top-30 roster features Joseph Tapine, Danny Levi, Hudson Young, Myles Martin and Pasami Saulo, who is returning to the Knights next year. Their five-eighth, Ethan Strange, hails from the Central Coast but did not come through the Knights' system. Jake Clydsdale (Scone Thoroughbreds), Kain Anderson (Central Newcastle) and Caleb Garvie (Cessnock Goannas) are playing in Canberra's lower-grade sides. The Raiders have also signed Knights hooker Jayden Brailey for next season. "The Canberra Knights," Young joked about the growing number of former Newcastle players at the club late last year. Starling, who re-signed with Canberra in May until the end of the 2027 season, looks set to go head-to-head this week with the man he will be competing with for the club's No.9 jersey next year. Both he and Brailey have been named at hooker for their respective sides ahead of Sunday's clash in Canberra. Brailey, who has started at hooker in four of Newcastle's past five games, will link with the Raiders for the next two seasons. Owen Pattie is the other emerging rake on Canberra's roster. A win clear at the top of the NRL points table, the Raiders are on an eight-game winning streak and coming off a 40-16 win over Parramatta on Saturday. The Knights, after a 20-15 loss to the Warriors on Sunday, have kept largely the same side for the 2pm match at GIO Stadium. Experienced forward Jack Hetherington has won a recall. He was named on the bench, while Tom Cant has dropped out of the side. Brodie Jones, who was a late withdrawal from the Warriors match - one of a dozen or so Knights players to fall ill on the eve of the game falling a virus outbreak - is in the extended match squad, which also includes Cant, James Schiller, Matt Arthur and Kyle McCarthy. The Knights should take plenty of confidence into the game, having pushed the fourth-placed Warriors all the way and only lost to Canberra 22-18 a month ago. Sasagi, who has mostly been used in the back row this season, will start in the centres against his former team after Raiders back Sebastian Kris (concussion) was ruled out. It's the rejection that helped fuel Canberra hooker Tom Starling's NRL career, and countless others as well, including some of his Raiders teammates. Starling made his way through Newcastle's development system before making his NRL debut for the Knights at age 20 in the last round of the 2018 season. It would be the Kincumber Colts junior's only first-grade game for the club. "It was old boys' day, I didn't play too bad. I didn't light the house on fire, but I thought I was going to get a contract out of that," Starling said. "But I didn't hear anything back from them. "I don't know if my manager was sheltering me from it ... but ... I run into [former Knights football manager] Darren Mooney down the beach, he was leaving the club ... and I'm just sort of in no man's land waiting for a call and he goes: 'Have you found anything yet?' "I'm like, 'What do you mean?' And he goes, 'Oh, haven't they told you? They think you're too small and they're going to bring in another [hooker].' "I rang my manager up and said: 'We've got to go find something else'. "At the time I probably used it as motivation, but looking back on it now, they obviously needed to win right away and thought they'd move in a different direction." Starling, who recalled his Newcastle exit on an episode of the Backstage with Cooper and Matty Johns podcast this week, isn't the first Knights product to go on and have a successful career elsewhere after being overlooked, and he certainly won't be the last. It's the nature of the sport. The Knights have a huge catchment area to potentially draw junior players from, ranging from the Central Coast in the south, the Upper Hunter in the west and up along the coast to the north. The club's modus operandi is to try and find and develop the best of them, but you simply can't keep them all. Knights management have previously said, however, that for a period of time they weren't as focused on their own backyard as they should have been. In recent years, the likes of Grant Anderson (Melbourne Storm), Kurt Donoghoe (The Dolphins) and Starling's Canberra teammates Zac Hosking and Simi Sasagi have become established NRL players after spending time in Newcastle's development system. All of them have admitted that their Newcastle rejections spurred them on other clubs. Starling, now 27, has played 126 NRL games - all but one of them for Canberra Hosking, 28, was twice named Newcastle's NSW Cup player of the year, but couldn't get a start in first grade and left for Brisbane ahead of the 2022 season where he made his NRL debut that year. He has now played 47 NRL games. Canberra have made somewhat of a habit of signing former Knights players or Hunter products. In addition to Starling, Hosking and Sasagi, the Raiders' top-30 roster features Joseph Tapine, Danny Levi, Hudson Young, Myles Martin and Pasami Saulo, who is returning to the Knights next year. Their five-eighth, Ethan Strange, hails from the Central Coast but did not come through the Knights' system. Jake Clydsdale (Scone Thoroughbreds), Kain Anderson (Central Newcastle) and Caleb Garvie (Cessnock Goannas) are playing in Canberra's lower-grade sides. The Raiders have also signed Knights hooker Jayden Brailey for next season. "The Canberra Knights," Young joked about the growing number of former Newcastle players at the club late last year. Starling, who re-signed with Canberra in May until the end of the 2027 season, looks set to go head-to-head this week with the man he will be competing with for the club's No.9 jersey next year. Both he and Brailey have been named at hooker for their respective sides ahead of Sunday's clash in Canberra. Brailey, who has started at hooker in four of Newcastle's past five games, will link with the Raiders for the next two seasons. Owen Pattie is the other emerging rake on Canberra's roster. A win clear at the top of the NRL points table, the Raiders are on an eight-game winning streak and coming off a 40-16 win over Parramatta on Saturday. The Knights, after a 20-15 loss to the Warriors on Sunday, have kept largely the same side for the 2pm match at GIO Stadium. Experienced forward Jack Hetherington has won a recall. He was named on the bench, while Tom Cant has dropped out of the side. Brodie Jones, who was a late withdrawal from the Warriors match - one of a dozen or so Knights players to fall ill on the eve of the game falling a virus outbreak - is in the extended match squad, which also includes Cant, James Schiller, Matt Arthur and Kyle McCarthy. The Knights should take plenty of confidence into the game, having pushed the fourth-placed Warriors all the way and only lost to Canberra 22-18 a month ago. Sasagi, who has mostly been used in the back row this season, will start in the centres against his former team after Raiders back Sebastian Kris (concussion) was ruled out.
The Australian
6 hours ago
- The Australian
Australia Cup: Wanderers too good for Peninsula
Bulgarian international Bozhidar Kraev scored twice as Western Sydney Wanderers cruised into the Australia Cup round of 16 with a 3-0 win over NPL Queensland club Peninsula Power on Tuesday night. New Wanderers signing, veteran New Zealand international attacker Kosta Barbarouses, also found the back of the net at AJ Kelly Park as Peninsula's attempt to disrupt the visitors by narrowing the pitch proved to be fruitless. Kraev scored twice in the opening 23 minutes, with Barbarouses' goal nine minutes later putting the game to bed. Kosta Barbarouses (left) celebrates with his Western Sydney teammate Alex Gersbach after scoring against Peninsula Power. Picture:It could have been worse for the Power, but goalkeeper Jordan Thurtell saved a 59th-minute penalty to deny Kraev a hat-trick. 'It was how we planned it, how we expected it and how we wished things to go,' Kraev told Paramount Plus in reflecting on his side's overall performance. The Wanderers starting side also included another of the club's off-season acquisitions in former Central Coast Mariners striker Alou Kuol, while ex-Melbourne City midfielder Steven Ugarkovic, who also recently signed with Western Sydney, was a second-half substitute. Joining the Wanderers in the round of 16 with wins on Tuesday night were Victorian clubs Avondale and Nunawading City. Avondale thrashed West Australian outfit Stirling Macedonia 5-1, while fourth-tier club Nunawading set a record Australia Cup scoreline with a 9-0 thumping of Darwin Olympic. Marco Monteverde Sports reporter Marco Monteverde is a Brisbane-based sports reporter for NCA Newswire. He worked in a similar role for The Courier-Mail from 2007 to 2020. During a journalism career of more than 25 years, he has also worked for The Queensland Times, The Sunshine Coast Daily, The Fraser Coast Chronicle and The North West Star. He has covered three FIFA World Cups and the 2000 Sydney Olympics, as well as a host of other major sporting events in Australia and around the world. @marcothejourno Marco Monteverde
