Andrew Johns' blunt Lachlan Galvin verdict turns up heat on bumbling Bulldogs

Andrew Johns has declared Lachlan Galvin is not an NRL-calibre halfback, rather a long-term five-eighth, as he delivered a damning assessment of Canterbury's spine in the wake of their insipid performance against Brisbane.

The rugby league Immortal believes coach Cameron Ciraldo must "pull the trigger" on highly touted young halfback Mitchell Woods once the 19-year-old has recovered from a hamstring injury.

Ciraldo defended his continued selection of Galvin at halfback after Canterbury lost to Brisbane 32-12 on Friday night, pointing out his man-of-the-match performance in the upset win over the Panthers in round six and stating: "He's a 20-year-old half at the moment."

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Johns challenged Ciraldo's thinking on Nine's The Sunday Footy Show.

"I think Matt Burton is an out-and-out five-eighth. He's a running five-eighth. If you're going to have a big running five-eighth, you need an on-ball halfback who does everything," Johns said.

"We know Lachie Galvin is there, he's building his game. I see him more as a long-term five-eighth. He wants the ball, but he's still gotta understand his game.

"He's got that thing on the right side where he's going to Jacob Preston, which I think he's going too much to Preston.

"But he's still learning his game, and I think he's an out-and-out five-eighth moving forward.

"So where that puts Burton and where Mitch Woods is, the younger prodigy who they've got high hopes for ... I don't know if he's fit to go, Mitch Woods. I think they need to pull the trigger and put him in there."

Woods hasn't played all season because of the hamstring issues he's dealing with, but it's a matter of when, not if, the Bulldogs blood the former NSW under-19s halfback and Australian Schoolboys star.

In Johns' mind, throwing the prodigy into first grade when he's fit would not be much of a risk.

"I don't necessarily think it's much of a gamble because they've put so much work into him in the last couple of years," the legendary halfback said.

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The Bulldogs didn't score their first points against the Broncos until the 56th minute, at which point Brisbane were undermanned in defence with Preston Riki in the sin bin.

Only one team in the competition has scored less points than the Bulldogs this season: the diabolical Dragons, who are languishing in last on the ladder.

One option for Ciraldo with Woods unavailable is to move Galvin to five-eighth, shift Burton to the centres and pick Sean O'Sullivan at halfback.

"It's the creative areas [that the Bulldogs are struggling in] and the creative areas are your spine," Johns added.

"There's no run straight out of dummy-half. They had Jake Turpin there [against Brisbane], but he's a distributor. Bailey Hayward's as tough as they come, but he's a distributor, so there's no run threat.

"And Galvin, I don't think he's a halfback, so the question is Mitch Woods, where he comes into it."

Brad Fittler has big raps on the teenager.

"He could play fullback, halfback – he's just one of those blokes who's got great skill, great awareness," Fittler said.

"But he hasn't played. He's been injured."

Billy Slater says the "short-term fix" for the Bulldogs is to "do the hard parts of the game well".

"It's the same for Melbourne, it's the same for all the teams that aren't playing well," Slater said.

"Look at the Brisbane Broncos. They're not talking about, 'I'll put this person in, that'll fix that, that'll fix it'.

"Sure, you could do that, but it's actually the attitudes to the players, the individual players, to go out there and play with that sort of intensity for long periods of time. That's the short-term fix."

The Bulldogs, who are sitting 10th on the ladder, will face the eighth-placed Cowboys at Accor Stadium on Friday night.