By Dan Walsh
“I’ve got to say, even before that last pass, I’d seen enough. Whether he makes that pass or not, there was a lot in his game that I liked tonight.”
Canterbury coach Cameron Ciraldo was understandably chuffed with his new No.7 on Saturday night.
Lachlan Galvin stepped out of his teens and celebrated his 20th birthday last week, then walked out as a starting NRL halfback and marched off a match-winner, all but sinking the Dragons’ faint finals hopes along the way.
The promise Ciraldo saw in Canterbury with Galvin calling the shots outweighed the clunky, too.
With his coach describing the Bulldogs 20-18 win as a “reset” of their season, with their Origin stars back and a finals run under way in earnest, Galvin’s first 30 minutes replacing Toby Sexton at the scrum base were his best yet in blue and white.
He didn’t try too much leading into Jacob Kiraz’s opening try, instead giving Stephen Crichton time and space to do his work. Galvin loomed in support like any good playmaker for a try of his when Crichton again split the Dragons defence.
And so far as wanting to add an X-factor to a stagnating Bulldogs attack, four touches in as many plays in the 12th minute were just as instructive as Galvin’s cut-out pass for Jethro Rinakama’s game-sealing try.
Front-foot ball will always make a half look good, but with Canterbury rolling upfield with a 4-0 lead, Galvin first turned Viliame Kikau back inside with one play, then put Jacob Preston through half a hole on the next.
Pulling defenders one way, then the other, with different attacking shapes so early in the game – all good areas from a halfback 18 months into his NRL career.
So too, Galvin’s follow-up plays with momentum from Preston’s quick play-the-ball, when he is at first receiver taking on the line and eyeing space behind the ruck before settling down when it disappears and finding Josh Curran in support.
A delicate grubber for a goal line drop-out rounds out a commanding set from the first-time No.7. From the repeat set, that unders line Galvin showed with Kikau from 30 metres out is revisited.
It’s especially good when Kikau is turned back inside for a second time, easily beating a trailing Michael Molo with footwork before Damien Cook pulls off a try-saving tackle.
With a 55 per cent share of first-half possession, the Bulldogs dominated, and Galvin ran regularly. When the Dragons took that same amount of ball in the second half, clunky Canterbury returned for much of their attacking efforts, already in short supply.
Galvin and Matt Burton were able to combine with a couple of wide shifts for the latter’s kicks in slippery conditions as Accor Stadium’s dew took hold and hampered the ball movement of the Bulldogs.
Service from dummy-half went astray at times. Galvin was as guilty as anyone in mis-timing right-edge plays that died with Connor Tracey surrendering to the defence or the ball being shovelled wide for shovelling’s sake.
Jacob Kiraz was dumped into touch on one such play. With two minutes to go, a similar shuffle right ended with Tracey being pole-axed by Jaydn Su’A with the game on the line.
The came the play that stole back pages and blue and white hearts all in one – the baseline play-making temperament that coaches and champion halves treasure just as much as Galvin’s skill, size, fitness and ability.
Two plays after Tracey wore one of Su’A’s shoulders, Galvin was two passes wide on the opposite edge, eyeing off the hole outside Kyle Flanagan with options A, B and C for his next move.
Lachlan Galvin celebrates his match-winning play.Credit: Getty Images
Tyrell Sloan’s flight into no-man’s land made it the simplest of choices, but Galvin still had to execute “one of the bravest passes” Ciraldo reckoned he’d seen.
Canterbury’s attack with Galvin, not to mention the second-year playmaker himself, is very much a work in progress.
Sterner examinations from the defences of the Warriors, Storm and Panthers, as well as inconsistent wildcards in Manly, the Roosters and Cronulla, all loom in the next six weeks.
But as Ciraldo points out, there’s a bit to like already.
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