Galvin, Burton, O’Brien: Phil Gould reveals major doubt over halfback’s future, defends recruitment

Gould has presided over a rebuild at the club that led them back to the finals, but now threatens to collapse in a heap amid questions over the club’s recruitment both on and off the field.

The Bulldogs are languishing in 14th place heading into the weekend after a challenging period in which they have struggled to replicate the success of last season, when the club finished in the top four.

Gould, speaking on The Bye Round with James Graham, insisted all was not lost as he addressed a myriad of issues which have been the subject of public debate and prompted talk that the club is in crisis.

“We’re not whinging, we’re not complaining, we’re not being victims,” Gould said.

“We’re taking our lumps as it goes and we will strive to get better. There is no give up in the Bulldogs at the moment and in our staff and in our players and we’ll help our players get back to playing their best football.

“So that’s pretty much the message that I wanted to give. We’re not hiding from what’s going on at the moment, and we’re not playing victim to it at all, and the world’s not against us.

“It’s just our turn. Teams go through this all the time. Now, you can pick one or two intermittent things over the last 18 months and say, well, that was the cause or that was the cause.

“I say no, and I say that eventually there’ll be blue skies again.”

GALVIN AT SIXES AND SEVENS

Galvin was signed midway through last season from the Wests Tigers at a point when the club was flying.

He was initially thrust into the No.7 jersey at the expense of Toby Sexton and has remained in the role this season in a side which has battled on both sides of the ball.

Galvin has been one of their better performers but that hasn’t stopped numerous experts suggesting he should be at five-eighth.

Gould confirmed that Galvin had been thrust into the halfback role out of necessity and was unlikely to remain there in the long term.

“Lachlan Galvin, he’s a very special individual and he’s a very special talent,” Gould said.

“But 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.

“Galvin, I don’t think I’ve ever seen this too often before, went from schoolboy football to NRL with the West Tigers. He didn’t play any SG Ball.

“He didn’t play any Jersey Flegg. He didn’t play any NSW Cup. He finished a schoolboy season and the next thing he was playing NRL in first grade with the Tigers. So he’s obviously talented. He’s never had to run a football team as himself as seven.

“And 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.”

Gould also dismissed suggestions that the departure of Reed Mahoney was linked with Galvin’s arrival - there have been claims that the hooker was forced out for salary cap reasons.

“I know it sounds coincidental, I know you’re trying to marry up what happened in the second half of the year as against the first half of the year, but it had very little to do with that,” Gould said.

“I mean these sorts of things with Mahoney and Sexton were in the pipeline for some months before Galvin even become available.”

HALVES CONUNDRUM

Galvin’s future and the suggestion that he could eventually move back to five-eighth will only heighten speculation over the future of Matt Burton.

Gould has already opened talks with Burton, who enters the final year of his current deal on November 1 and is free to speak to rival clubs after then.

A move to the centres would appear in the wind if he stays at the ‘Dogs and there will be a flow-on effect of any positional change.

Burton is on a deal that is understood to pay him in excess of $1 million next season. The Bulldogs already have a highly-paid centre in captain Steve Crichton and the idea of having two centres on seven figures is unrealistic given the impact it would have on the club’s salary cap.

As a result, the assumption is that Burton would have to take a pay cut to stay at the Bulldogs in 2028. Alternatively, he could go to the open market and likely get a pay rise on his current wage.

“People are speculating about this all the time,” Gould said.

“I’ve had this discussion with Matt Burton quite openly. I sat with him and his manager six or eight weeks ago.

“He said, ‘I want to stay with the Bulldogs’. I said, ‘good, that’s a really good place to start’. So over the next 18 months, we’ve got to work out what we pay Matt Burton and where he’s going to play.

“I’m not worried about November 1. I trust his manager and I trust Matt. I’ve known Matt Burton since he was a teenager.

“Matt Burton is not going to run out in the middle of the night and sign somewhere else without telling me.

“Matt Burton would have no problem walking out and getting a really good deal anywhere.”

ON THE ATTACK

The Bulldogs’ attacking woes this year have led to question marks over the decision to bring O’Brien to the club.

O’Brien spent six years at Newcastle and led them to four finals series before departing at the end of last season.

Gould and Ciraldo saw the chance to bring an experienced coach to the club and swooped. With the club in the midst of a losing streak, O’Brien has been in the firing line.

Gould revealed he spoke to former Storm stars and Nine Network colleagues Billy Slater and Cameron Smith before making a move for O’Brien - they both worked with him when he was an assistant coach at the Storm.

“So Adam O’Brien spent his first 10 years at the Melbourne Storm, working in the academy program down there,” Gould said.

“He ended up assistant coach and attacking coach for Craig Bellamy when they won a premiership.

“He then moved to the Roosters, where he was assistant coach to Trent Robinson, won a premiership.

“He then got the offer to go to Newcastle and be a head coach up there. In the six years he was there, he made the finals on four occasions.

“This is a team he took over that had won three wooden spoons in a row. I spoke to Billy Slater and Cameron Smith, who played under Adam O’Brien at the Melbourne Storm and said, what was he like in an assistant coach?

“They said, one of the best we’ve ever had. They said he was absolutely outstanding. So a coach that’s both succeeded and failed at the NRL level, that has been a part of assistant coaching with the Roosters in the Melbourne when they’ve won premierships, why wouldn’t you want a bloke like that in your system assisting your head coach?

“He’s a brilliant coach. He prepares his stuff really, really well. He works hard for the team. He’s up at 4am each morning helping the head coach.

“That’s what you want from an assistant coach. It suits the narrative of the media and the negative people to ask these types of questions.”