19-07-2025
Galvin snatches Bulldogs win in first game as halfback
Lachlan Galvin has enjoyed a fairytale first game as an NRL halfback, throwing the match-winning pass in Canterbury's 20-18 defeat of St George Illawarra at Accor Stadium.
Just when the Bulldogs' halves headache looked set to throb into next week, much-hyped mid-season recruit Galvin broke the Dragons' hearts with a cut-out ball to Jethro Rinakama in the final 90 seconds.
Dragons winger Tyrell Sloan was caught in-field and his opposite man Rinakama, in only his second game, slid over to seal a win that puts Galvin's name up in lights.
Jethro Rinakama scores the match-winner! 🤯Telstra Moment of the Match
— NRL (@NRL) July 19, 2025
The move to bring Galvin over from Wests Tigers had been questioned as Cameron Ciraldo deliberated how best to use the 20-year-old in a team that had been atop the ladder when he arrived.
But the magic play would've felt vindication for the finals-bound Dogs, who look to have delivered the hammer blow to the Dragons' own top-eight hopes.
Saints are still a mathematical chance but need to claim victory in all of their remaining games to finish the season with a winning record, and face Penrith, Canberra and the Warriors on the run home.
Saturday night was the eighth time this season the Dragons have lost by 10 points or fewer.
They looked home and hosed, stoically defending the Bulldogs on their goal-line in the final minutes having run in the first two tries of the second half.
Clint Gutherson had thrown the last pass to Sione Finau that gave the 11th-placed Dragons an unlikely lead as mid-season recruit Galvin struggled to spark Canterbury after replacing Toby Sexton at halfback.
But with his match-winning play, the former Tiger may well have brought the Bulldogs closer to answering the halves puzzle that appears critical to their premiership chances.
Earlier, Galvin backed his captain Stephen Crichton up on the right side to score his side's second try, and came close to putting Viliame Kikau over for four-pointers in each stanza.
But Damien Cook made a heroic effort to hold Kikau up over the line, before referee Adam Gee found a knock-on before a Galvin kick found its way to the giant forward.
Finau dislocated his shoulder in the act of scoring the Dragons' third try, while Bulldogs recruit Sitili Tupouniua hurt his hamstring in his first game back from a lay-off with that same injury.
