2025
It was always going to be difficult for a 19-year-old to stand before his teammates and articulate why a $6 million, five-year deal and the 30-odd people in the room weren’t enough to convince him to stay at the club that had handed him his NRL debut.
Galvin’s efforts went down as well as you might imagine, especially when his version of “I don’t want to be a distraction” came out as “you do you and I will do me”. Some in the room described it as “a train wreck”.
When, on the request of coach Benji Marshall, Galvin had finished talking, Marshall walked to the front to have his say.
He said the team should not begrudge a player the right to provide for himself and his family as most of the people in the room – including Marshall – had done at various stages in their life.
“It’s not about that”, one of the players said quietly enough that not everyone heard but loudly enough for those around him to giggle.
An Instagram post by Sunia Turuva – picture of Galvin’s Concord locker with a track about money playing in the background – was meant to be an in-joke between the players. It is not an accurate representation of how the players feel about the situation.
But a post by Jarome Luai that read “Team First” does capture the mood of those players who are unhappy at how things have played out at the Tigers in the wake of Galvin’s decision not to stay at the club after the 2026 season.
It reflects a view from an influential section in the Tigers camp that perhaps the youngster was getting a bit too big for his boots. For them, Galvin’s decision to walk away from the team only confirmed what they already suspected – that it was all about Lachie.
That’s one side of the story. What has emanated from the Galvin camp over the past few months is a frustration with how things have changed since Luai arrived at Tiger Town in the summer.
For months, people within the club have noticed a tension between Galvin and Luai. Galvin didn’t seem to have quite the same spring in his step and seemed irritated by the attention on the arrival of the Wests Tigers’ marquee recruit.
That didn’t go unnoticed by some of the players, who began to form the opinion that the rookie may have been suffering from a sense of entitlement after his breakout season, in which the Tigers again won the wooden spoon.
Complicating the matter was the perception that Luai had formed a close bond with back-up playmaker Latu Fainu and perhaps preferred him to Galvin as his halves partner.
That suggestion was made known to this columnist before a ball was kicked this season, and it is likely Galvin would have heard it through the rugby league grapevine.
After the Tigers’ round-one loss to Newcastle in a somewhat disjointed attacking display Luai allegedly approached Galvin and advised him against playing for himself. That did little to settle Galvin.
The difficulty for Marshall is that the passion the players showed in defending their coach may also be construed as a weakness in his leadership and it could snowball into becoming a divisive issue for the squad.
How does young gun Tallyn Da Silva feel about the social media posts mocking his close friend? What does it do to the narrative already being pushed in some corners about the culture under Marshall’s leadership.
The dossier of grievances
Unbeknown to all at the Tigers, Galvin’s manager was keeping notes in preparation for his client’s seemingly inevitable exit from the club.
The Herald can reveal two of the grievances presented to the Wests Tigers regarding Lachlan Galvin’s concerns with Benji Marshall.
The first related to a wrestling session, from which Galvin was removed by Marshall after five minutes. It was Marshall’s way of looking after his star player, a young playmaker who didn’t need to get involved in the grubby stuff at the ruck.
Moses, however, claimed that Marshall’s gesture was detrimental to his client’s development, arguing he needed the additional time at the wrestling session to improve the defensive aspect of his game. It was an accusation that left staff at the Tigers scratching their heads.
The second grievance Moses took to Wests Tigers chief executive Shane Richardson related to an alleged comment Marshall made that offended his client.
As Moses detailed the complaint, Richardson interrupted him and accused him of using the situation around Galvin to launch a character assassination of the coach, who he did not like. The remaining five points were never addressed.
It’s unclear if the senior players were aware of the accusations levelled against Marshall when they insisted on Galvin’s axing from the team, but it would go some way to explaining why they have turned against him so publicly.
Marshall had given Galvin the keys to the castle last year. He gave him his debut, and gave him the opportunity to play a style of football that suited his free-flowing style. Arguably, it was more than most in Marshall’s position would have done - but he did it anyway.
Sometimes it was to Marshall’s own detriment, with internal rumblings that the coach was showing preferential treatment to Galvin.
According to Tigers sources, Luai recently addressed the team and spoke about his willingness to play second fiddle to Galvin if that was what was best for the team.
So what changed over the summer?
How did Galvin and his family go from being so complimentary towards the coach to his agent compiling a dossier of grievances against him?
Depending on who you listen to, you’ll get two different stories. The suggestion that Marshall isn’t up to scratch as a coach has an interesting sub-plot.
It hasn’t been lost on the Tigers that Galvin has a very close relationship with Bulldogs assistant coach Luke Vella, who had a massive impact on his development as a junior at Westfield Sports High School.
While Manly coach Anthony Seibold has ruled the Sea Eagles out as potential suitors, the Bulldogs have a strong interest in exploring the Galvin situation and Vella is seen as pivotal to their bid to get him to Belmore, if indeed they do make a play for his services.
Then there’s Parramatta. If you believe the talk in western Sydney, Mitchell Moses – a close relation and client of Isaac’s – has been in the ear of Galvin for weeks.
Mitchell’s appearance on SEN Radio on Wednesday afternoon, during which he raised concern for Galvin’s wellbeing, did little to ease suspicion.
Could this all have been avoided?
Last year, St George Illawarra found themselves in a similar situation with Zac Lomax. Lomax wanted out, but he was able to put his feelings aside and produce career-best football to earn a spot in the NSW team and cement himself as one of the premier players in the competition. So why couldn’t this situation have been the same for Galvin?
If the Dragons could get the best out of a disgruntled player to benefit their own cause, couldn’t the Tigers have done the same?
One explanation is that the big personalities of the people in the conversation prevented that from happening in this situation.
Everything that you’ve read in the previous 1000 words to this point, you can bet Tigers boss Shane Richardson would have already heard.
The rumblings of discontent. The tension between the players. Galvin’s desire to test his value on the market on November 1. Richardson would have known it all.
So why not give himself and the club the best chance of creating an environment Galvin wanted to be part of. Why not hope the team goes on a run and makes finals football and Galvin starts to see his future there?
Couldn’t the Tigers have waited until after the season, two months before Galvin would become a free agent, to make the pitch of all pitches to keep him around?
The argument that they wanted to plan for the future seems odd. They can’t sign anyone for 2027 until November 1 anyway, and the heir apparent to Galvin – Latu Fainu – is tied down for another two years after this season.
Maybe Richardson could see what was unfolding in front of him and didn’t want to let Moses get one over him. Maybe he didn’t want to be used as leverage in a negotiation that was more than likely going to end with his young star wearing a rival club’s colours.
Whatever the case, Richardson wanted an answer about Galvin’s future, and in pushing for one he backed Galvin and Moses into a corner.
That opened the door for Galvin’s potential early departure. The whole circus has resulted in a situation that has potentially made Galvin’s position at the club untenable. The club may be forced to grant him an early release.
When Richardson pushed the issue, rather than delaying an answer to let his client concentrate on his footy, Moses replied with a blunt, “Thanks, but no thanks” and told the Tigers Galvin had no intention of staying at the club.
How did Moses think Richardson would react? Richardson was clearly infuriated – the terse Tigers press release in the immediate aftermath of this masthead breaking the news of Galvin’s rejection shows that.
Moses has a dislike of Marshall and an even greater dislike of the Tigers. It stems back eight years to when he led James Tedesco, Mitchell Moses and Aaron Woods away from the club because he didn’t like the coach at the time, Jason Taylor. It’s a familiar story.
This time it’s a 19-year-old Lachi Galvin, who has been caught in the crossfires of a battle for power between two men who don’t like to lose, a playing group that feels disrespected, and a coach who can’t understand why the season that promised to deliver so much has been turned on its head in the space of 48 hours.
There has been a growing sense of frustration in the Lachlan Galvin camp since Jarome Luai’s arrival in Tiger Town over the summer.
www.smh.com.au
