Since Lachlan Galvin’s mid-season transfer to the Bulldogs, the popular narrative seems to be that the big headed, arrogant kid with a dodgy haircut has disrupted and destabilised the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs’ 2025 premiership tilt.
Toby Sexton is one of the Bulldogs best players and a key cog in a well-oiled machine.
There’s a fair degree of after the fact myth making to most of that. Below is a breakdown of the Bulldogs season to date.
Dragons (currently 11th) 28-20
The Bulldogs started the game well and were up 28-6 with 28 minutes to go. They switched off early allowing the Dragons the slightest sniff at 28-20 with eight to go.
Titans (17th) 40-24
This game was never in doubt but twice the Dogs gave up unanswered runs of 12 points to the Titans turning a potential rout into a good win.
Eels (15th) 16-8
Canterbury genuinely struggled to get on top and put points on against an at the time winless Parramatta who were conceding 44 points per game.
Lachie Galvin of the Bulldogs is tackled. (Photo by Darrian Traynor/Getty Images)
Sharks (10th) 20-6
Tight first half before the Dogs kicked away in the second 40. Genuinely good win although the Sharks haven’t done much since to frank that form.
Knights (13th) 20-0
Canterbury enjoyed 58% possession, 62% territory and 52 tackles in the Knights’ 20. Struggled to turn dominance into points, scoring just three second half tries after being held 0-0 at the break.
Rabbitohs (16th) 32-0
Overall a good performance. However again the Dogs dominated with 61% possession, 70% territory and 63 tackles in Souths’ red zone. In the second half the Dogs were camped in an exhausted Souths 20, but could only find one try.
Broncos (5th) 18-42
The Dogs came out completely asleep at the switch. Their defence couldn’t handle Haas’ offloads and Reynolds took advantage of the compressing defence with an attacking masterclass. 34-0 at half time.
Titans (17th) 38-18
Scoreboard possibly makes the Bulldogs six tries to four victory look a little stronger than it was, but never in doubt.
Raiders (1st) 32-20
The Bulldogs’ best win of the season, but again were caught napping in the first 40, going into the sheds 20-0 down. Stephen Crichton put the team on his back and the Raiders lead was gone 17 minutes into the second stanza.
Roosters (9th) 24-20
Another half game from the Dogs, trailing 14-0 at half time. Possession and territory was evenly split, but again the Bulldogs had 49 tackles in the Roosters’ 20, but struggled to find tries from close range
Dolphins (7th) 8-44
Bulldogs looked off in the first half but the 8-12 scoreline gave no indication what was to come in the second.
Eels (15th) 30-12
Another game where the Bulldogs had 60% of the ball, 68% of possession and 47 tackles in the Eels’ 20 but struggled to put on points. The game was in the balance at 14-12 with 20 minutes to go, before kicking away late.
Rabbitohs (16th) 24-18
Another Jekyll and Hyde performance. The Bulldogs led 18-0 after 17 minutes. Looked like teams had swapped jumpers when they came out after the storm break with the Dogs just holding on.
Panthers (6th) 6-8
Arguably the game of the season. In the first half the Bulldogs had 55% of the ball, 52% possession and 18 tackles in the Panthers’ 20 for just one try.
Broncos (5th) 18-22
Another half game performance from the Bulldogs. Again the Bulldogs won possession (53%), territory (51%) and tackled in opposition 20 (35-17) but struggled to come up with points, with tries coming from two hoist and hope kicks and a scrum play.
So, looking at these performances, four things become immediately clear.
1) The Bulldogs have had a soft draw. Sometimes it hurts to admit and you go looking for reasons why it’s tougher than it actually looks, but it’s a fact that 20 of the Bulldogs’ 28 competition points have come from the bye and the bottom five.
Tyrone Munro is tackled at Accor Stadium. (Photo by Matt King/Getty Images)
2) The Bulldogs have struggled to play 80 minutes. That’s probably true of a lot of teams. Games often seem to involve big momentum swings, but no doubt the Bulldogs have regularly switched off during games… and when they switch off they switch off hard.
They conceded 20 points in 40 minutes against the Raiders, 34 in 40 against the Broncos, 32 in 40 versus the Dolphins, 14 in 40 against the Roosters, 14 in 20 against the Dragons, 22 in 20 against the Broncos.
3) The Bulldogs have regularly dominated possession, territory and tackled in the opposition 20 metre stats. Often by a long way. They’ve struggled to turn ball and territory into points – currently eighth for points scored – despite playing teams mostly at the “defence ain’t our jam” end of the ladder.
4) As much as it pains, this suggests the Bulldogs haven’t been as dominant and well-oiled as their extended stint at the top of the ladder would suggest. Wins against teams in 17th, 17th 16th, 16th, 15th, 15th, 13th, 11th, 10th, ninth and first with losses against fifth, fifth, sixth and seventh, tells a pretty clear story.
The signing of Lachlan Galvin hasn’t fixed any of this, but it certainly hasn’t made it worse. He’s played two games off the bench and two as a starter for two wins against bottom three sides and two losses against top eight sides. He hasn’t destabilised the Bulldogs. It’s been the story of their whole season.
Response to Sexton not being offered a contract for 2026 has ranged from incredulity to outrage. Some of the hyperbole has been ridiculous; comments like “Sexton is one of the main reasons the Bulldogs have been on top of the ladder” or “Sexton has been killing it”.
This season Sexton sits 27th for line engagements and 12th for halfbacks. For try assists he’s 42nd and 13th for halfbacks. Line break assists he’s 48th and 10th for halfbacks. Line break involvements he’s 39th and 17th for halfbacks. Kick metres he’s 11th and 9th for halfbacks. He’s scored two tries in 15 games and has zero line breaks.
This isn’t a witch hunt for Sexton. He’s been a good player for the Bulldogs and worked his backside off to improve. However, when you take into consideration how much attacking ball the Bulldogs have had this season against teams at the bottom end of the ladder, his returns aren’t close to good enough for a top flight No.7.
It’s telling that Sexton has been on the open market for next season since 1 November 2024 and hasn’t been picked up by an NRL club, despite an apparent dearth of quality halfbacks. The brutal truth? My club doesn’t want him. Neither does yours.
Is Galvin the answer to any of these Bulldogs issues? That remains to be seen.
But he sure as hell isn’t a cause of them.
