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The Bulldogs seemed to be trending in the right direction after a statement win over Penrith earlier in the month, which doubled as arguably the best game of Galvin’s young career.
But it has been all downhill ever since for Ciraldo’s side, who have dropped out of the top eight after going down to undermanned Parramatta and Brisbane outfits in consecutive weeks.
While both losses have cast doubt over the Bulldogs’ premiership credentials, it remains clear that Galvin is among the team’s best and most naturally gifted players.
Even on Friday night against Brisbane, Galvin was consistently challenging the Brisbane defensive line with 12 line engagements while he also shouldered the majority of the kicking with 322 metres compared to just 21 from halves partner Matt Burton.
At times though it can look like too much is on his plate, especially for a 20-year-old still finding his way in the NRL.
But when asked on Friday if Galvin was perhaps better suited at five-eighth instead, Ciraldo quickly shut the question down with a timely reminder.
“Did you think two weeks ago he was?” Ciraldo said, to which the reporter replied that at times Galvin had looked “erratic” on Friday night.
“He’s a 20-year-old half at the moment,” Ciraldo added in response.
“He’s got a great lesson there from a guy who’s had 15 years doing what he’s doing. But there are only lessons if you learn.”
Galvin is certainly learning plenty early in his career and while he may be prone to over-playing his hand now and then, the 20-year-old undoubtedly looks like a long-term cornerstone piece for the Bulldogs regardless of what position he plays.
Speaking more broadly on the team’s performance itself, Ciraldo said he was “disappointed in a few sections” but thought they “started strong”.
“We knew that we needed to do that on a five-day turnaround to get up here and start with plenty of energy. Unfortunately (we) just couldn’t take our opportunities down that end of the field,” Ciraldo added.
“They went up the other end and took theirs and all of a sudden we’re down 12-0. So that was a bit hard to cop.
“But I thought that was okay. The try before half time and try after half time really hurt us.
“I thought they scrambled well, they defended well. We probably were a little bit clunky maybe…. but we just gave them up too easy down the other end of the field.”
Ciraldo was particularly critical of the Bulldogs’ performance against Parramatta last week, but said against Brisbane it was a case of a few individuals coming up with poor decisions in defence as opposed to an overall attitude problem or the entire defensive system breaking down.
“(We) definitely didn’t defend well last week. Really disappointed with the resilience last week,” he said.
“Tonight in periods it was the same. In long periods we defended great. A lot of people (were) defending well, but at crucial times we just had one or two guys letting us down.
“You just can’t have that against a team with Adam Reynolds, Ezra Mam, Kotoni Staggs and that sort of quality.”
Both teams spent 10 minutes down a man in Friday’s game, with Harry Hayes sent to the bin for a trip on Adam Reynolds which Ciraldo said he wants clarification on.
“I’ve probably got to get clarity on it because I saw a lot of escorts tonight,” the Bulldogs coach explained.
“Two we were penalised for and a couple we didn’t get go our way. So I’ve probably just got to get clarity on exactly what they’re seeing for that to happen and what they’re seeing for us not to get them on the other end. We’ll do that during the week.”
Originally published as ‘Did you think two weeks ago he was?’: Ciraldo shuts down Galvin question after Bulldogs loss
