{"id":438470,"date":"2026-05-21T14:37:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T14:37:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/438470\/"},"modified":"2026-05-21T14:37:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T14:37:09","slug":"phil-gould-casts-doubt-over-lachlan-galvins-future-role","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/438470\/","title":{"rendered":"Phil Gould casts doubt over Lachlan Galvin’s future role"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cantebury Bulldogs halfback Lachlan Galvin<\/a> is no guarantee to remain at number seven for the club in the first sign of the club recognising change is needed.<\/p>\n

The Bulldogs were top of the table halfway through 2025 when they signed Galvin, and decisions across the club have seen more changes since then, with Reed Mahoney<\/a> departing, vacating the dummy half role for Bailey Hayward<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The club’s attack has gone backwards in a big way since then, and the Bulldogs are currently in the midst of a horrendous run of form ahead of what has become essentially a must-win game against the origin-depleted Melbourne Storm<\/a> on Friday evening.<\/p>\n

Galvin, who has tried hard and put in plenty of effort but struggled for execution, has been at the centre of the criticism dished out in a misfiring halves combination with Matt Burton<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Now director of football Phil Gould has hinted that the club will need to look at other options into the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cLachlan Galvin<\/a>, he’s a very special individual and he’s a very special talent,\u201d Gould said on the Bye Round Podcast.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut he’s a 20-year-old kid playing in a very, very important position. And you’ve got to consider Lachlan Galvin’s grounding coming into this.<\/p>\n

\u201cGalvin, I don’t think I’ve ever seen this too often before, went from schoolboy football to NRL<\/a> with the West Tigers. He didn’t play any SG Ball.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe didn’t play any Jersey Flegg. He didn’t play any NSW Cup<\/a>. He finished a schoolboy season.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd the next thing he was playing NRL<\/a> in first grade with the Tigers. So he’s obviously talented. He’s never had to run a football team as himself as seven.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd longer term, he’s probably not a seven, but he’s getting great experience at the moment. He’s learning the game really well. It’s wonderful for him.\u201d<\/p>\n

It comes after reports in recent days suggested the Bulldogs are also looking at upgrading other parts of their spine, with Gould caught in a meeting with off-contract and out of favour Gold Coast Titans<\/a> hooker Sam Verrills<\/a> at magic round, while reports have also indiciated they are keeping tabs on AJ Brimson’s situation with fullback Connor Tracey<\/a> also struggling for form.<\/p>\n

Galvin is contracted long-term with the club, while Matt Burton<\/a> is off-contract at the end of next year, although Gould insists the club wants to retain the Origin-experienced back.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cantebury Bulldogs halfback Lachlan Galvin is no guarantee to remain at number seven for the club in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":42998,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[111,139,69,213],"class_list":["post-438470","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438470","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=438470"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438470\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42998"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=438470"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=438470"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=438470"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}