Lachlan Galvin is 19, the NRL’s most hyped young talent in years, and with a healthy helping hand from a fast-food chain, is going to get bigger.
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Lachlan Galvin is 19, the NRL’s most hyped young talent in years, and with a healthy helping hand from McDonald’s, is going to get bigger.
The Tigers five-eighth has grown another two centimetres to stand at 193cm (the tallest regular No.6 in the game) and shaved three seconds off the 1.2km time trial in which he already held the club record.
But having played at around 85kg in his impressive rookie season, the Tigers want Galvin adding size to his lean frame, a remit he’s struggled with so far this pre-season.
The Tiger’s licence to eat won’t quite trigger a Donald Trump-esque pivot to a dozen Diet Cokes, Doritos and McDonald’s for Galvin.
But along with coach Benji Marshall “hovering around me, making sure I do all my reps” in the gym, a steer toward his post-game indulgence in McDonald’s dinner boxes on a more regular basis is encouraged.
“I don’t eat enough. Every morning I’m in here, they tell me, ‘Eat breakfast, eat lunch’, they watch me eat [because] I’ve got to put the kilos on. I struggle with that but I’m trying my best,” the Tigers tyro said.
“The dietician Clare (Flower), she says, ‘Eat what you want, Lachlan’, so it’s pretty good.
“I get a dinner box from Macca’s on the way home [after games]. Clare spoke about calorie targets but I don’t even know what that means. I’ll just try to eat as much as I can. If I come in the morning and I weigh more than I did yesterday, I’m happy.”
Galvin’s debut season would have yielded rookie of the year honours if not for a two-game suspension, and had judges including Andrew Johns, Brad Fittler and Phil Gould lauding him as a generational talent.
The Tigers are accordingly wary of NRL rivals looking to prise Galvin out of Concord, especially given the well-documented release requests and emergency meetings with the Galvin family in June.
Extension talks have been flagged for the new year given Galvin’s current contract expires at the end of 2026, potentially putting him on the market in a year’s time as new expansion clubs become likely to circle.
The youngster dead-batted questions around his future, but the looming arrival of ex-Panthers star Jarome Luai is an undoubted attraction in staying.
Luai’s $6 million, five-year commitment to the joint venture not only brings a bona fide premiership winner to the Tigers alongside recruits Terrell May, Sunia Turuva and Royce Hunt, but also takes heat off Galvin in his development as a playmaker.
“Dad and I were sitting there thinking ‘I’m going to play alongside him next year’ – it’s a bit crazy,” Galvin said of watching Luai’s fourth-straight premiership win at Penrith.
“He’s going to help us so much and change the culture around here.
“We know how good a player he is; he’ll take so much pressure off me. He’ll run the team and I’ll just play off the back of that.”
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