Lachlan Galvin leaves new Bulldogs' team-mate baffled with odd team instruction as the ex-Tigers star ends month of headlines with try in Canterbury's win vs Parramatta
Lachlan Galvin left one of his new Bulldogs team-mates bemused after issuing a odd team instruction when the former Wests Tigers five-eighth came off the bench for his debut for Canterbury on Monday.
The 19-year-old prodigy ended months of speculation over his future and announced his arrival at the Bulldogs, by scoring a try and taking the reins as halfback, to help seal a 30-12 win against Parramatta.
The result keeps the Dogs at the top of the NRL but some uncertainty still remains over what role the exciting young playmaker will have in Cameron Ciraldo's side.
The ex-Tigers star warmed the bench for 56 minutes before coming on to take over at half-back, as off-contract No 7 Toby Sexton was moved to play hooker.
But the move left Sexton slightly puzzled, admitting to Fox League after the match that he thought Galvin had been joking when he told him he was set to join up with the forwards for the final quarter of the match.
'He came on and said play hooker and I thought he was joking for a second and he goes: "Nah you're actually playing hooker" and I thought: "Oh, righto this will be good",' Sexton told the outlet.
Bulldogs No 7 Toby Sexton (left) said he thought Galvin was joking when he told him to move to play hooker as the ex-Tigers star stepped into his role in the halves
'Whatever is my role in the team, the coach is going to decide that and I just have to play to the best of my ability.
'We've got lots of strike in the team and they're good headaches for the coach to have.'
Galvin, meanwhile, still is unsure of his own role in Ciraldo's backline, adding: 'I thought I was coming on at lock or centre, I didn't know and then Ciro told me to go into the halves so whatever Ciro wants and the boys need, I'll do it.
'If we keep winning like that I'll do anything.'
At the start of the month, Galvin broke his silence to set the record straight on his controversial Tigers exit.
He set the record straight on his relationship with Benji Marshall and Jarome Luai, claiming there was no bad blood with them, adding that he was excited to work under Ciraldo.
And on Monday he was again pressed on the move, claiming that he was still trying to ignore the negative furore around the move.
'I just want to play footy. I shut that out. That's all over now and that's all in the past,' he said.
'That's all in the past now. I just want to play footy and I was smiling and enjoying it out there today. That's all I really want to do and with these bunch of boys, it's quite amazing and the fans got right behind us tonight. It was really cool.
'As you can see when I scored, they all jumped over me. They've been so supportive, they've got behind me.
'Just to get the win with all these boys that have been so good to me, I love every minute of it. The club is building into something really special here and I love being a part of it.'
Galvin did just that, involving himself heavily in Canterbury's attack and linking with five-eighth Matt Burton in the lead-up to a Viliame Kikau try to put the Bulldogs up 18-12.
And, after Harry Hayes crossed to make it 24-12, Galvin capped his arrival in the No.23 jersey by scoring his first try in Bulldogs colours to seal the match.
After putting fullback Connor Tracey into space on the right edge, Galvin backed up on the play and ran onto a Josh Curran pass to score after a Jacob Kiraz offload.
Galvin had been one of the most divisive figures in rugby league for the past two months, such was the nature of his highly-publicised exit from Wests Tigers.
But there was nothing but love from Bulldogs fans, with a crowd of 59,878 in Accor Stadium on Monday.
The 19-year-old's name was chanted before he even entered the field and he earned a standing ovation as he ran on and again with each of his first touches.
And the roar was enormous when he crossed late in the match, 10 days after officially putting pen to paper on a three-and-a-half year deal with the Bulldogs.
In fact, it was a surprise to see Galvin on the matchday squad, after it had been thought the young footy star could play a warm-up match in the NSW Cup last week, as opposed to stepping out onto Stadium Australia for Monday night's King's Birthday clash.
'We had a couple of plans, but no, that wasn't the plan (to play halfback). We had a couple of different plans there,' Ciraldo said.
'It's been a really hard week to get his head around everything.
'On Tuesday, when I named the team, he wasn't in the team.
'I thought he would play NSW Cup and he'll just come through there and learn our systems but every training session he did, he got better. He understood our systems better and by the end of the week, it was clear that we needed to have him in the team and he could help us win the game.
'Credit to him and how he went about his training during the week and I thought he did great when he got on there.'
Notable too was how impressive Sexton's kicking game was for Canterbury before Galvin came on.
The Bulldogs' regular halfback also entered Monday under intense scrutiny, given he is off-contract and seemingly unlikely to now be re-signed.
Canterbury were able to dominate field position for the majority of the match, only for Parramatta's resolute defence to keep them in the contest.
Burton scored early for the Bulldogs when he picked off a Ryley Smith pass from a scrum and went 60 metres to score.
But the Eels returned the favour moments later when Zac Lomax intercepted a Burton pass and put Mitch Moses into space to score a 90-metre try.
The Bulldogs took a 12-6 lead back when Burton went to the short side in the 20th minute and sent Marcelo Montoya over.
However, the match swung again when Viliame Kikau was sin-binned for dangerous contact on a kicking Moses just before halftime and the Eels levelled the score on the next set.
Canterbury went 14-12 clear when Moses was penalised for a high shot in the 50th minute before the Bulldogs ran away with it late with Galvin in the centres.
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