Lachlan Galvin looks set to join the Bulldogs effective immediately in a move that could vault the ladder leaders into premiership favouritism — but not everyone is convinced the signing will deliver results right away.

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In fact, there have been suggestions the signing could create an “unsettling effect” as the 9-1 Bulldogs look to capitalise on a strong start to the season and lock up a top-four berth.

That is the opinion of The Daily Telegraph’s Phil Rothfield, who questioned what Galvin’s arrival could mean for a number of the Bulldogs’ unheralded players.

“My view is that it is going to create now a lot of uncertainty over the future of a number of players there,” he said on Triple M’s ‘Sunday Sin Bin’.

“They say Connor Tracey has lost the fullback spot. Burton is going to go to fullback and Galvin at five-eighth. Where does it leave Toby Sexton? Where does it leave someone like Reed Mahoney, the hooker, because Bailey Hayward I think is the long-term hooker.

“So we’ve got a football side that without Galvin, without Leo Thompson, had won nine of 11, high-flying at the top of the ladder. I can just see a little bit of an unsettling effect here for the reasons I’ve just explained.”

Panthers legend Greg Alexander was perplexed on SEN 1170 when he referenced the suggestions that Burton could be moved to fullback to accommodate Galvin.

“Why would that happen?” he asked, while Andrew Voss went as far as to question if Galvin would even walk into the Bulldogs’ starting line-up, especially if means Tracey gets “shafted”.

“I don’t know if Galvin’s form has been that great,” Voss said.

“I know it hasn’t. He’s been no better than good and probably a little bit less than that this year. How does that form at the Tigers put him straight into the starting line-up at Canterbury? I don’t think Galvin plays Monday week.”

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While Galvin was initially linked with a move to Parramatta, the whispers grew louder that the Bulldogs could make a play for the Tigers five-eighth after reports that they were holding off extending Toby Sexton, who is off-contract at the end of the year.

Galvin’s arrival throws his long-term future at the club into question, while Rothfield also said that even if the teenager isn’t on big money it could still pose problems with the Bulldogs’ salary cap situation in the near-future.

“There are a lot of players there like Jacob Preston, for example, should be in Origin, but for suspension is on $350,000,” Rothfield said.

“You’ve got Max King, a front rower. He’s on $400,000. He’s in the Origin team where other front rows are on $800,000. They’ve got Tracey. I’m just saying it’s going to be difficult to keep everyone happy.”

Bulldogs legend James Graham, however, had a very different view on the Galvin matter, arguing that the move made plenty of sense given there have been questions over the spine’s ability to produce big plays in the big games.

“Well, each and every team though would go through natural progressions in squad, additions, people moving on for different reasons,” Graham said.

“I think if you were to look at the Dogs’ team, there is money there available. They lost (Karl) Oloapu, Ryan Sutton as well who was on decent money, medically retired.

“So there’s money there to spend and if you looked at the team, a couple of the knocks on the Bulldogs as a playing roster (were that they were) a little bit light in the middle, so they went out and signed Leo Thompson and then if you look at the genuine spine game breakers with Tracey, Burton, Sexton, Mahoney, one of the knocks or the observations were they don’t quite have that level of brilliance in those spine positions. So they’ve gone and acquired that.

“I think any team would look to promote from within and they have put a lot of money into their pathways, but it’s naive to think that it’s a singular approach. I think it’s a dual approach.”

Graham also went on to point out that the fact the Bulldogs reportedly landed Galvin on a deal worth $750,000 a season, which he described as “good value”, has largely been ignored.

Fellow former Bulldog Michael Ennis made a similar argument on Sunday afternoon, claiming the Bulldogs wouldn’t have signed Galvin for this season if they didn’t feel like he could improve their team.

“They must feel that he is going to come into that side and be able to get them to a preliminary final or to a grand final,” Ennis said.