Let’s rewind to the end of 2024...the Bulldogs, after years of rebuilds and resets, clawed their way back into the finals.
But internally? It wasn’t a victory lap.
The club treated that finals appearance not as a reward, but as an evaluation window.
And two names emerged at the main focus of that lens: Reed Mahoney and Toby Sexton.
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A Club Willing to Make Hard Calls
The Bulldogs were leading in their elimination finals match 16-12 at half-time against the Manly Sea Eagles before losing the lead and the game eventually.
Tom Trbojevic and Daly Cherry-Evans would start two plays that would spark a comeback, with DCE scoring a try off a scrum play he created in the 55th minute and a DCE-Trbojevic inside ball piece in their half would spark a shift to the left edge where Tolu Koula would score in the 71st minute, beating the home team 24-12.
Mahoney was signed as a long-term No.9 solution after the 2021 season to start playing for the blue and white from 2023 to the end of the 2026 season.
It was a solid move, with the experts and the club believing in his upside as a two-way player.
The defensive grit was there, even drawing comparisons to former NRL player Michael Ennis, but the creativity, the attacking spark was never quite there.
When the Bulldogs needed that extra layer of dynamism in the finals, it didn't come from dummy half.
Now, the original four-year deal turns into three as he was bought out of the final year of that contract and joins the Cowboys on a three-year deal from next season, after the Queensland club lost Reece Robson in the off-season.
Toby Sexton, meanwhile was steady and helped the Bulldogs to play a team-centric style that would lead to consistently winning games.
As the 2025 season enters round 20, the low ceiling has become more apparent. He played well enough to stay in the picture, but not well enough to own it.
So, what did Canterbury do? They didn’t reward short-term results. They planned ruthlessly.
Toby Sexton will head to the Super League at the end of this season on a two-year deal.
The Galvin Deal: Vision Over Comfort
If there was ever a single move that captured this new Bulldogs mindset, it was heading to the buyout market and signing Lachlan Galvin.
Let’s put this into perspective. Galvin still had 18 months left on his Wests Tigers deal, and was the central figure the Tigers planned to build their franchise around, even with the signing of Jarome Luai.
Yet in the middle of the season, with the Bulldogs already entrenched as a top-two side, they not only went after Galvin but signed him to a three-and-a-half-year deal.
This was the club plugging a gap and building depth. It was a statement made by the club.
In the situation the Bulldogs are in, normally clubs don’t go and pull a starting-caliber, blue-chip young playmaker out of another club’s system unless you’re thinking long-term and severely disappointed by high floor, low ceiling players.
They could've waited to see how this year went before bringing in someone like Galvin.
When Galvin and his agent Isaac Moses made their intentions clear he wasn't signing the extension with the Tigers, but still commit to the contract he signed with them that was set to expire at the end of 2026, the Bulldogs could have waited until November 1st this year if the club wanted him and make an upgrade in the halves to buy his 2026 year out.
When the decision was first reported about the 19-year-old's intentions, Galvin's talent was spoken highly by Phil Gould on 100% Footy and the club that was assumed to extend Toby Sexton made their plans much clearer as the months went on.
Gould would use the platforms he has on Channel Nine to explain and Toby Sexton and Reed Mahoney's situations in terms of development and waiting on seeing how the season played out, as well as even urge Galvin to leave the Tigers.
Between the statements Galvin and the Tigers made earlier in the season until the month of May, the Tigers increasingly grew frustrated with the legal issues that would aspire out of the Galvin situation and both Galvin and the club failed to live up to the words of fulfilling the contract to its very end.
Clearly the Bulldogs felt that they had to go after Galvin, as they believe he can be a premiership-winning half this year and beyond.
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The Hayward Factor: Internal Gold
While everyone talks about big-name additions, one of the most important pieces the last two seasons has been Bailey Hayward.
Quietly, he’s gone from squad depth to spine stability, bringing a mix of defensive reliability, kicking maturity, and ball-playing nous that few expected to emerge this quickly.
But here’s the kicker: the Bulldogs didn’t need him to become that guy. He just did.
That kind of internal development from unheralded to indispensable is the hidden engine behind long-term contenders.
Galvin might be the fireworks. Hayward is the scaffolding.
With Reed's exit after this season, Hayward could become the dummy half for the future and sign an extension in the off-season as he is one of eleven free agents this November 1st.
Phil Gould’s Masterplan: Stars, Juniors & Financial Flexibility
Every move the Bulldogs have made screams future-proofing. They’re gunning for a title now, yes. But they’ve also got cap space, contract leverage, and a young core all peaking in 2026 and 2027.
The Mahoney buyout? Clears space.
The Sexton caution? Maintained leverage.
The Galvin deal? Extends the window, given his age and the expectations to be contenders every year.
It’s a strategy that protects the Bulldogs from becoming a one-year wonder. And in a cap-locked league like the NRL, that’s the difference between being the Panthers with their dynasty and being the Eels, who went from a optimistic 2021 finals exit with a historic semi-final against the Panthers to going through a off-season straight after losing several key pieces that would help the club make the grand final in 2022 season.
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Just two years later, the Eels have to buy out Reagan Campbell-Gillard and Clint Gutherson on the final year of their deals for financial flexibility after a horrible 2024 recruitment period and two years of finals absence after a grand final appearance where they lost two of their best juniors in Blaize Talagi and Ethan Sanders, while buying out their best dummy half in their ranks at the time in Matt Arthur due to the Brad Arthur sacking.
In reality, the Eels should have went into a rebuild with those three around Mitch Moses from the 2023 season considering every other finals appearance since 2017 was first or second round exit, but instead chased for another year like 2022 and were stuck in financial purgatory with their salary cap.
The Bulldogs aren’t just hoping to be just good anymore. They’ve looked at the club’s trajectory, reviewed the 2024 finals as a turning point, and decided: good isn’t good enough with their roster.
The club wants star players, stars in their roles. They want balance. And mainly, they want flexibility to justify the means and the difference.