OPINION
What else could have Wests Tigers offered 19-year-old Lachlan Galvin to keep the second-year playmaker at the club longer than his current contract which expires at the end of 2026?
The answer is nothing.
It is now public record that a six-year extension worth $5.5million wasn’t going to be anywhere near enough.
All for a kid with 27 games to his name, for just 8 wins and a wooden spoon.
There’s no doubting how good Galvin can be, but Wests Tigers were quite right to dig their heels in, shrugs their shoulders and “move on”.
It didn’t matter what Wests Tigers chucked at Galvin – or his management to be more precise.
Newcastle’s ludicrous $1.3million, ten-year deal to sign Dylan Brown from the Eels did more to fast-track Galvin’s extension rejection which in-turn, was the last straw for Wests Tigers management and the head coach.
“We would like to announce that Lachlan Galvin will not be with the club beyond the 2026 season,” the club said in a statement on Monday.
“Despite the club having the largest contract offer for a junior in the history of the club on the table, Lachlan and his management have decided his future lies elsewhere and were not willing to review the offer.
“It should be noted that the club has no intention of releasing Lachlan from his contract, and he has not requested this.
“Obviously, there will be a lot of speculation around this release, but we will make no further comment.
“The club is focused on winning as many games as possible during Lachlan’s tenure and beyond.
“The club is disappointed, but we move on.”
Let’s make one thing clear.
This isn’t a ‘player’s market’.
It isn’t ‘you take what someone offers you’.
The NRL is a player agent’s market and it would be a shock to nobody to learn that Galvin’s agent is Isaac Moses.
As Voldemort once said in the Harry Potter movies: “There is no good and evil. There is only power and those too weak to seek it.”
Is this the same Lachlan Galvin that runs out every game, bouncing and skipping and grinning like a cheshire cat?
The one that embraces his teammates after a try or a victory like a kid playing the game out of pure love?
Get someone to look at you the way four-time premership-winner and new club captain Jarome Luai looked at him as the pair cut Parramatta to shreds in round two.
There’s a feeling Galvin was never long for Wests Tigers, anyway.
The way his family spoke about his love for the Eels and how they did him dirty.
Apparent concerns over Galvin’s workload in his debut season and how Wests Tigers and coach Benji Marshall was working him too hard and refused to rest him throughout the year.
Whispers that the Galvin brigade weren’t happy that Wests Tigers brought in Luai to save the three-straight wooden spooners instead of chucking all their eggs in the basket on Galvin.
Funnier now that the “workload” complaints came before Luai signed and if it was “all in” on Galvin – what would his workload without a premier half in Luai alongside him in 2025 look like?
According to The Sydney Morning Herald’s Michael Chammas on Monday afternoon, Galvin’s exit has been planned for no less than 18 months.
“The simple truth is Galvin has no faith in his coach’s ability,” Chammas wrote.
“In discussions with the club over the past week, the boom five-eighth’s camp told Wests Tigers powerbrokers Galvin didn’t believe he would develop to become the player he wanted to be under Marshall’s coaching.
“Galvin’s representatives didn’t even want the Tigers to table an offer, such was their desire to look elsewhere from November 1.
“Sources with knowledge of the situation, talking on the condition of anonymity due to the confidential nature of discussions, told the Herald that Galvin believed there was a ceiling on how far he could develop at the club, especially given Marshall’s tendency to appoint former Tigers teammates as assistant coaches.
“That, combined with the genuine dislike between Marshall and Galvin’s agent Isaac Moses, meant the situation was always destined to end in tears.”
Galvin, himself, doesn’t believe Benji Marshall can coach?
Hmmm.
Does anyone in their right mind, think the polite, smiling, fresh-faced, 19-year-old with 27 games to his name told his agent [or whomever Chammas is quoting] to say that about the greatest Wests Tigers five-eighth of all time?
A bloke that played 346 NRL games, won a World Cup, represented his country 31 times and won a Golden Boot.
The one that actually has a premiership ring on his finger?
Same Benji, at the same age, that was making 70-metre breaks, hot-stepping and flick-passing around Accor Stadium in front of 80,000 fans as Wests Tigers won their first and ONLY grand final?
The yarns, leaked to journalists from Galvin’s side will get more obvious and nastier as the months go on.
Go for it.
Wests Tigers had the shits on Monday and finally stood up for themselves.
