Canterbury Bulldogs boss Phil Gould defends Cameron Ciraldo’s decision to axe Toby Sexton for Lachlan Galvin, fans comment, 2025 season, try assists

Bulldogs general manager Phil Gould has defended the club’s 2025 decision to axe Toby Sexton after fans took him to task on social media on Wednesday.

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Sexton’s mid-year axing in 2025 still has Bulldogs fans asking questions of the club.

The team was running third on the ladder but coach Cameron Ciraldo wasn’t satisfied that Sexton was the halfback to lead the club to a title and he was dropped for newcomer Lachlan Galvin.

It came after Sexton endured a heavily publicised seven-week try assist drought while playing halfback for Canterbury.

Sexton had the fewest try assists and line breaks of any halfback playing for a top-four team at the time.

“Over the last little period we’ve been working really hard on our attack, we’ve been trying to evolve towards the back end of the year and understanding what’s going to beat those top teams, who have got really good defensive systems,’’ Ciraldo told SEN’s Breakfast with Vossy and Brandy at the time.

“And we just felt like we weren’t sort of getting there.”

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The Bulldogs would go on to win just four of their final 10 matches and were bundled out in the finals in straight sets after losses to Melbourne and Penrith.

And the fans are still debating the decision to axe Sexton so close to the finals series.

One fan asked Gould on social media platform X why the club had to “change a winning formula”.

Gould responded, saying the high ladder position didn’t necessarily mean the team was a contender.

“Being towards (the) top of the ladder at halfway does not mean we weren’t without our concerns,” Gould wrote.

“Certainly, the coaches felt that way. It’s an easy narrative for people to criticise, but (the) coaches were very strong in their views. They did what they thought was in the best interests of the club and the team.”

And Gould, to this day, has no issues with axing Sexton for Galvin.

“They were right too. Our data supports it. I trust our coaches, without any doubt,” he wrote.

Another fan even questioned why the club didn’t go “hard for the premiership” with Sexton, arguing the team did look like contenders with him at halfback.

Again, Gould defended his staff and Sexton finished 2025 with just six try assists from 18 games.

“Our coaches did go hard at winning a premiership, by making the changes they felt were necessary,” Gould said.

“What people see from the outside is sometimes very different from what the coaches are seeing on the inside.

“Everything you saw, the coaches would’ve considered, but they made changes anyway, so their reasons had to be strong.”

Gould went on to say that the losses of Sitili Tupouniua, Kurt Mann, Enari Tuala, Marcelo Montoya and captain Stephen Crichton in Week 1 of the finals were the main reasons the team faded.

“Injuries beat us in the end, not team changes,” he said.

“I trust the people who work with these players all day, every day. People on the outside can have their own opinions. I trust our coaches.”

The Bulldogs also had to play 11-straight games before the finals and couldn’t afford to rest players carrying niggling injuries with a top four spot on the line.

“We played the last half of the season without a bye. We wanted to rest players who were injured, but we also thought finishing top four was important,” Gould wrote.

“We thought if we could beat (the) Storm in Melbourne in Week 1 of the finals, we would then get a badly needed week off. Nearly got them. But that’s football.

“This year exposed a few things. But we can fix those things over time. It’s a long race.”

Sexton went on to depart the NRL to sign with the French Super League club Catalans Dragons.

He’s heading to the Perth Bears for their inaugural season in 2027 and has publicly said he has a point to prove in the NRL following his Bulldogs axing.

Gould also revealed on X that the club would be announcing a new signing next Tuesday, but wouldn’t give any hints.

“I just said I can give clues. I never said I would give clues. I’m sure we can all hold out until next Tuesday,” Gould said.