YOUNG HALVES GIVE TIGERS FANS GLIMPSE OF FUTURE
They may not be the youngest halves pairing in NRL history - that honour goes to Denny Lambert and Scott Prince for the Cowboys in 1998 - but make no mistake, new Tigers halves pairing Latu Fainu and Lachlan Galvin are young.
Very young. Both are 19 and have played a combined 20 games of first grade, all of which came this year.
By comparison, Chanel Harris-Tavita and Te Maire Martin - the Warriors halves this weekend - have played 157 NRL matches.
Make no mistake, Benji Marshall could have headed in a different direction in his halves this week. Either Jayden Sullivan or Api Koroisau could have lined up in the No.7 jersey instead of Fainu, who’s NRL appearances have all come off the bench.
Instead, Marshall has taken a gamble and shown faith in the 19-year-old Fainu, widely considered by many to be the best half in his age group.
And while it is a gamble which may not pay off in the short-term, there is every chance that in blooding Fainu into the No.7 Marshall made his own at the Tigers he is showing his side’s fans what the future holds.
In Galvin and Fainu, contracted until 2026 and 2027 respectively, the Wests Tigers possess two of the finest young halves in the NRL, with Galvin particularly proving to be not only one of the NRL’s best young stars, but also one of its best halves this season.
Granted Jarome Luai will arrive at Concord next year, leaving Fainu to develop his game in reserve grade or off the interchange bench.
But the Blues Origin star will be 28 when he arrives, hardly a spring chicken, and will be able to impart a wealth of playmaking knowledge he’s accrued alongside Nathan Cleary and Mitchell Moses onto Fainu and Galvin.
In the long term, this development under the wing of serial winner Luai will only serve to improve the Tigers’ young halves, to the club’s benefit.
If all goes well Fainu and Galvin will be the Tigers halves pairing in five or six years time, when they’ll still both incredibly only be in their mid-20s.
That is a frightening prospect for the rest of the NRL, and an exciting thought for Tigers fans who haven’t had much to cheer about in recent years.
As for how they go this weekend, Marshall has given his side a strong, but not impossible, test against the Warriors.
The last time Fainu and Galvin partnered each other in the halves was in high school. The next time they do so will be in Auckland.
Round 21 will be a challenge for most NRL halves, let alone a rookie, but their future won’t be decided by a single contest.
However, Tigers fans will be hoping they perform better than Prince and Lambert back in 1998, when they lost 62-0 to the North Sydney Bears.
This weekend the Tigers will be praying history doesn’t repeat, or rhyme, for their young No.6 and No.7.
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