‘He’s been their best’: Cleary says criticism of Galvin has been harsh

August 29, 2026 — 10:00am

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In his first full year at Canterbury, Lachlan Galvin has again been a lightning rod for debate, as talked about a player as in the game.

But while the Bulldogs regressed after a third-placed finish in 2025, their polarising young halfback has won the tick of approval from the best in the business.

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“I think he’s been their best player this year,” Nathan Cleary told this masthead.

“Definitely their most consistent. Probably the thing I admire about him is he never shies away from the game - he’s always gone after it.”

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After upstaging Cleary earlier in the season, the champion pulled rank on Friday night as Penrith began to hit their stride, even without lock and captain Isaah Yeo and fellow injured Panthers Paul Alamoti and Mitch Kenny.

An off-season of introspection looms for the Bulldogs, not least over the make-up of their halves.

For Galvin, the bar has been set high since Phil Gould labelled him the best teenage footballer he’d seen and he defected from Wests Tigers to Belmore soon after.

Yet while Canterbury have been left ruing what might have been, the 21-year-old’s development is a promising sign. “I think the criticism of him has been super harsh,” Cleary said. “I really rate him as a player and as I said I think he’s been their best player.

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“I thought he did it last year too in the finals game we played against them. I thought he was probably their best player on that day too.

“He’s not scared of the big occasion. He’s got all the attributes.”

Bulldogs coach Cameron Ciraldo has been a fierce protector of Galvin given the intense focus on the playmaker since his controversial shift from Concord.

He was sheltered from media interviews for much of the year but the shield has been lowered towards the end of the season.

“I think he’s been really good all year. The last couple of months, I think he’s grown a lot,” Ciraldo said. “He’s 30 games into being a halfback and I think he’s grown a lot in that time.”

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After outplaying Cleary in a round six-boiler, Ciraldo described him as “brilliant” in the return fixture despite the result. Galvin engineered both of the Bulldogs’ tries at CommBank Stadium.

“He didn’t get flustered by the occasion. There was a lot of pressure in [Friday night’s] game,” he said.

“You find out a lot about people in those moments. For them, their best players stood up … Dylan Edwards and Nathan Cleary. It felt like Lachie had one of those nights too. He showed he can play under that pressure.”

Canterbury have plenty of other issues to review in the summer. The enduring question about Galvin is whether halfback is his position.

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He is certainly not afraid to get his hands on the ball and take control. Aside from dummy halves, no player in the competition has touched it more times than Galvin this year.

He also leads the NRL in line engagements, an acknowledgment of his strong running game, and his short kicking has forced 21 dropouts.

However, even Bulldogs general manager of football Gould has indicated Galvin’s future could lie elsewhere in the line-up, admitting earlier this season he was not brought to the club to be its long-term No.7.

So is he a halfback? Cleary is as good a judge as any.

“I think he’s gone pretty well at halfback,” he said. “I think the thing with halfbacks is you have to persist with them and give them time. It’s not my decision.”

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More:

NRL 2026

Canterbury Bulldogs

Penrith Panthers

Nathan Cleary

Chris Barrett is a senior sports reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald. He is a former South-East Asia correspondent for the Herald and The Age.Connect via X or email.

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