Canterbury Captain Supports Lachlan Galvin’s Halfback Role
Canterbury captain Stephen Crichton has strongly defended Lachlan Galvin’s potential as a halfback, expressing confidence that the struggling playmaker could become an NRL legend. This comes after former player Andrew Johns raised concerns about the Bulldogs’ direction, suggesting that Galvin should be moved back to his more familiar position of five-eighth.
Galvin’s performance has come under intense scrutiny following a 32-12 loss to a weakened Brisbane Broncos team on Friday, which left the Bulldogs with a 3-4 record at the start of the season. Since his controversial transfer from Wests Tigers midway through 2025, Galvin has managed only seven wins in 16 games where he started as halfback.
The Bulldogs are currently the lowest-scoring team in the league, averaging just 19 points per game over their first seven matches. This poor form prompted Johns to publicly suggest that coach Cameron Ciraldo should abandon the experiment and reposition Galvin.
However, Crichton highlighted Galvin’s impressive performance in the Dogs’ 32-16 victory over premiership contenders Penrith earlier this month as evidence of his capability as a halfback.
“The way he played against the Panthers, everyone was on his side, saying he was the best halfback that week,” Crichton said. “Now, two weeks later, he probably hasn’t performed the way he would’ve wanted to and that’s a reflection of the boys around him not helping him do his job.”
Crichton emphasized that Galvin is the team’s halfback and that his performance against the Panthers demonstrated the standard expected of a halfback.
Galvin has remained largely out of the media spotlight this season and has not publicly addressed his form. Crichton believes the criticism he is receiving is “pretty harsh.”
“I feel for Lachie,” he said. “He has been getting criticised a lot lately for the way that our team has been performing and ever since he’s come to the club. I’ve always said, if you’re not getting criticised, you’re not doing your job right.”
Crichton added that Galvin is learning from these challenges and will eventually become a great player.
“He’ll be learning from this. He’s learning these lessons as a young 20-year-old, and he’s going to become a player – like one of the greats – sooner or later. I feel like all the lessons that he’s taking right now are pretty harsh, but it’s going to build him up to be the player that he wants to be.”
Crichton, whose team is set to face North Queensland on Friday, mentioned that the frustration with Canterbury’s performance has been the most intense he has experienced.
“I haven’t felt this much criticism since I got to the club, to be honest,” the centre said. “But with a big club and a big fan base, there’s always going to be people with their opinion.”
Crichton stressed that the team’s focus remains on internal discussions rather than external opinions.
“I feel like we’ve been really clear with our boys where our answers lay, and that’s inside our four walls, regardless of media attention and social media posts. As long as you have the opinion of your players and the coaching staff, that’s the only opinions that you can listen to.”
