It’s Monday afternoon and Phil Gould sits in his favourite lounge chair, gently stroking his chin.
‘… and this is why we didn’t release Toby early you fools,’ you can just imagine him thinking.
Following reports that Lachlan Galvin has been sent for scans on separate hand and ankle injuries, exiled number seven Toby Sexton could be set for a first-grade recall as the Bulldogs host a desperate New Zealand Warriors in Round 23.
Effectively squeezed out of Belmore by the mid-year arrival of Galvin, Sexton signed with Super League club Catalan Dragons back in June—but rather than be released before the June 30 transfer deadline as most expected, the 24-year-old has instead been seeing out his current contract in NSW Cup.
MORE: Where now for unwanted Bulldogs halfback Toby Sexton?
Jettisoned a month ago as Canterbury coach Cameron Ciraldo sought to add premiership spark to the Bulldogs stuttering attack, a recall would see Sexton renew the halves partnership with Matt Burton that steered the club to the top the NRL ladder during the first half of the 2025 season.
Since being dropped, Sexton has helped the Bulldogs’ NSW Cup side go undefeated in three games, with his most recent outing being last Saturday’s 18-18 draw with the Newton Jets at a water-logged Sharks Stadium.
Should 20-year-old Galvin indeed be confined to the sidelines when Round 23 sides are announced, a far riskier Bulldogs halves option is to blood NSW Under 19 captain Mitchell Woods, described as ‘one of the best sporting talents in the country.’
Woods was pulled from NSW Cup last weekend to be 18th man in the shock loss to the Wests Tigers, but is yet to play an NRL game.
‘All part of the plan,’ Gus smirks to himself in the make-up chair at Channel Nine.
‘All part of the plan.’