Phil Gould defends Bulldogs for signing Lachlan Galvin, dropping Toby Sexton, Reed Mahoney

Bulldogs supremo Phil Gould has passionately defended the club from claims of “self-sabotage” after they crashed out of the finals at the hands of the Panthers on Sunday.

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The Bulldogs were blown away by the four-time defending premiers 36-8 in the first half, eventually going down 46-26 to exit in straight sets after looking a genuine premiership threat earlier in the season.

While Lachlan Galvin was one of the team’s few shining lights in the heavy loss to Penrith, his performance won’t stop questions being asked of Gould and coach Cameron Ciraldo for the decision to inject him into the starting line-up mid-season.

But when former Sharks premiership winner and co-panellist Paul Gallen asked Gould on Channel Nine’s ‘100% Footy’ if it was “self-sabotage”, the Bulldogs general manager hit back at a “media narrative” which he described as “childish” and “extremely unfair”.

“It suits the media narrative to describe it the way you did just then. None of that was in our four walls. None of it anywhere from any players or any coaches,” Gould said.

“We’re delighted to have him on our books. We took the opportunity when it arose. It came out of the blue.

“We didn’t know it was going to happen at the time but we made a decision that we wanted him in our club and that’s what we did.

“Now it’s led to this media barrage, and a lot of it has been childish and extremely unfair. But as I say to the boys, welcome to the Bulldogs.

“We get that stuff all the time. That’s a part of being in our jersey.

“This boy was outstanding. Yesterday in a badly beaten side, I thought he really showed his class and he’s a real player of the future.

“And that’s what we bought him for — the player he is going to be, not the player he is at the moment. I thought he did outstandingly well coming in when he did to play as many games as he did for us under the pressure that he had, and he’s never played halfback before.

“He’s never played halfback in any junior football whatsoever. So it was a big ask from him and I think he’s done an outstanding job.”

The Galvin signing wasn’t the only point of contention in an up-and-down season for the Bulldogs, with the decision to drop Reed Mahoney along with halfback Toby Sexton also a bold one.

But when Hall of Fame inductee Cameron Smith asked Gould why the club went away from a winning formula with Mahoney and Sexton, the Bulldogs supremo refused to go into details.

“We don’t need to discuss that publicly,” Gould said.

“But if you go back and look at our draw after 15 rounds we led the competition.

“We’d had three byes — I think we played the Titans twice, Parramatta twice, St George twice, South Sydney twice. We had the big games to come towards the back end of the season.

“We also had a bigger representation in Origin this year that we didn’t expect. Maxy King and Kurt Mann and those fellas played Origin. Plus other fellas were taken into camp as 18th man and others went into training.

“So it was a disruptive period that we haven’t experienced for a number of years.”

As for the decision to bring Galvin in, Gould said that was particularly important for the club’s “future”.

“So we decided to do that,” he added.

“I don’t want to talk about Toby and Reed because they’ve been wonderful for our club. They’ve been great kids. I don’t want to talk about publicly where it is.

“But every decision that was made in there was made by people who deal with these players every day, who coach them every day, and know the players extremely well.

“One thing I know about coaches — they like to win... and that’s why they pick the teams the way that they do.

“I trust the people that deal with them all day, every day. Not the people that take potshots from the media.

“They don’t have any influence over what we do.”

While it was a disappointing end to a season that promised so much, Gould said it was “great experience” for the Bulldogs to test themselves in the finals against two of the league’s heavyweights.

“It’s something they’ll be able to lean on in the future and let us know where we stand,” he said.

As for what comes next, Knights forward Leo Thompson will bolster the forward pack while the talented Kade Dykes, who battled injuries during his time at Cronulla, offers depth in the backline.

Gould also said the club would continue to promote from within, predicting promising half Mitch Woods would debut in 2026.

“We’ve got young Mitch Woods on contract for three years,” Gould said.

“We’re really timing our run with him. I think he’ll debut next year. We’ve been cautious with him coming through and he’s had a good season in the lower grades.

“At the start of next year he will get a chance.”

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