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Burton: First clash against Tigers won't faze Galvin
Jasper Bruce, AAP • July 28th, 2025 3:08 pm
Lachlan Galvin is like a 26-year-old in a 20-year-old's body, says Bulldogs teammate Matt Burton | Photo: Dan Himbrechts/AAP
Matt Burton expects another week of headlines will bring out the best in Canterbury halves partner Lachlan Galvin in a hotly-anticipated first clash with Wests Tigers.
Galvin's messy mid-season split with the Tigers has been the story of the NRL season as the generational talent jumped ship from a team rebuild that had centred around him.
After beginning his time at the Bulldogs on the bench, Galvin now appears to have found his feet in two games at halfback, first throwing the match-winning pass against St George Illawarra in round 20.
He and Burton combined seamlessly on Sunday as the Bulldogs romped to their biggest win of the season yet, a 42-4 hiding of top-eight hopefuls Manly.
"(Galvin) is dangerous and his decision-making is some of the best I've seen. We'll just keep building on that and get better," Burton told AAP.
Galvin has found himself at the centre of a media circus since arriving at the Bulldogs given his raw talent, the nature of his Tigers exit and uncertainty as to how the premiership hopefuls would use him.
The scrutiny is poised to flare up again as Galvin meets the Tigers on Sunday for the first time since leaving in late May.
There will be plenty of interest when Galvin (c) comes up against his former teammates | Photo: Dean Lewins/AAP
"He'll just go to another level and get better from that (scrutiny)," Burton said.
"That won't faze him at all. There's going to be a lot of talk and that, but whatever's in these four walls, we just stick together and we don't worry about that.
"It's like he's a 26-year-old in a 20-year-old's body, he's got that maturity about him. He just works hard, wants to get better. He's only getting started, which is exciting."
The Bulldogs reaped the rewards from reconfiguring their attack in the lead-up to Sunday's clash with Manly.
Canterbury had averaged only 14 points across the previous month, with coach Cameron Ciraldo conceding at full-time against the Sea Eagles that the Bulldogs' attack "wasn't really working".
The Bulldogs' new halves pairing of Galvin (l) and Matt Burton (r) is off to a promising start | Photo: Dan Himbrechts/AAP
The changes revolved mostly around simplifying the attack, and spine players linking up better through the middle of the park..
"There were just a few adjustments that we had to make. I thought it worked really well tonight, me and Galvin connecting there and the spine through the middle," Burton said.
"We just gained so much momentum off that. We'll go back to training, get better. Obviously there's still a lot to work on there but we were happy with that."
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