In a world where, at times, little makes sense, Lachlan Galvin's reported deal to move to the Canterbury Bulldogs has still managed to raise eyebrows.
And rightly so.
There is absolutely no need for the table-topping Bulldogs to sign a 19-year-old five-eighth with plenty to prove and a potential attitude problem to go with it.
Maybe that's harsh, but that's the way Galvin comes across, whether it's a media beat up or not.
In the very best-case scenario, he is going to bring that same media storm with him, and it, combined with the ramifications for a current group of players who are flying at the top of the table, has the potential to bulldoze the Bulldogs.
But what does it actually mean for the Bulldogs on field, even if they do manage to not let the distractions do exactly what they are designed to do?
Because this is a team who don't exactly need reinforcements.
Their form in recent weeks has been shaky, no doubt, but a part of that has been caused by suspensions, a part of that has been caused by their first trips out of Sydney for the year, and the other part by misguided intensity that has seen them start games very poorly before getting themselves back into nearly every contest they have played.
The game against the Canberra Raiders is something of the perfect example. They certainly can't let it keep happening, but the hallmark of a good - and more importantly extremely confident - team is one who can be well below their best and still walk away with two competition points.
To do something like that to Canberra away from home proves exactly where the Bulldogs are at in the 2025 campaign. Maybe well ahead of the majority's expectations, but on par no doubt with where Cameron Ciraldo and Phil Gould thought they would be at this point of their carefully mapped out rebuild.
And carefully mapped out it has been.
Every signing has been thought out. The majority haven't agreed with the approach by the blue and white's, but it's hard to argue with the incredible run of results they have managed to achieve, first getting to the finals last year, and then going to a whole new level in the first half of 2025.
Galvin feels like the first signing where you can seriously mount an argument with the Bulldogs.
The group that have joined the club all brought something with them, even if they didn't have an obvious position to slot into.
Galvin not only doesn't have an obvious position to slot into, but he has baggage, and has only played in a losing outfit at the Tigers to this point in his career.
It feels, on the surface at least, like a signing the Bulldogs have gone ahead and made, simply because they can. Because they are no longer the struggling club at the bottom of the table, who have to pay enormous amounts of money to secure any talent.
They are now at the table where they can offer less money than other clubs and have players walk in, as they have done with Galvin.
It's a signing that seems similar to that of Jack Wighton when he joined the South Sydney Rabbitohs, despite the Maroubra-based outfit having Cody Walker in the number six.
At Belmore, Galvin will be confronted with a similar situation in that Matt Burton is the current number six, and Toby Sexton is the current number seven.
The duo have churned out results for Ciraldo's team this year, putting opposition defensive lines under the pump and ensuring the Bulldogs have been able to run up a lot of points in a hurry when it has been needed.
You only need to look at their comebacks in recent weeks to know how in control of the situation Burton, and maybe more importantly Sexton, have been.
Sexton, in particular, will be thrown by the signing.
He may hang onto the number seven jersey for the remainder of the year, but there is almost certainly now no money for his re-signing beyond the end of this year.
In the short-term, it has the potential to take his mind away from the field if he does remain in first-grade, which, if the Bulldogs are serious, he absolutely should given his excellent form that dates all the way back to the middle of last year when he took over the halfback jumper from Drew Hutchison.
Even if the Bulldogs do have the money for Sexton, they now have too many chefs in the kitchen.
The problem with that, though, of course, is that both Burton and Galvin are five-eighths.
Turning five-eighths into a halfback has worked on occasion, but it has been seldomn been done, and you could very realistically end up with a Brisbane Broncos-type situation where Anthony Milford was moved to the number seven following the original departure of Ben Hunt from that club, and it backfired spectacularly.
So ruling that out, it means one of Galvin or Burton will likely need to play away from the halves.
That will be a tough sell for Burton. One of the club's best and most important players, Burton has proven himself at centre at every level of the game, but it would surely be taken as a slap in the face should he be asked to move into the centres.
That would also shuffle Stephen Crichton to fullback. That is undoubtedly what he joined the club to do, but has become such an inspirational member of the side in the centres since moving from Penrith that it would be another hard call to justify.
And forcing Connor Tracey out of the side altogether after the first half of the year he has put together?
Likewise, Lachlan Galvin's name has come up as a potential to move into a ball-playing lock role. That may be the most realistic of the options, and yet, it's hard to see him being overly happy about shuffling clubs and then moving into the forwards.
Galvin's potential move into the forwards at Belmore will be one to keep an eye on, but again, Kurt Mann and Bailey Hayward have been doing such a good job playing that role that it would be another difficult sell to shake up a team going so well.
Hayward certainly can play other roles - and not only has he done so throughout the season, but is now tipped to take over from Reed Mahoney at dummy half after the Origin period, before potentially taking the number seven jumper next year - but for the time being, there is really no need to change.
Bulldogs fans will be sweating on the fact Phil Gould and Cameron Ciraldo know what they are doing with what can only be described as an almighty risk for a team who don't need to take it.
If this situation has been badly misjudged - and the general feeling is that it has - then it has the potential to derail what is an exceptionally promising season.
If it works, it might just unlock the Bulldogs to go to a new level, but that seems like a more far fetched theory than the alternative at this stage.
