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I’ve only seen a couple of Latu’s game in NSW cup, bog average.
I haven’t been looking at this, but has Galvin actually said he wants to leave, or is it just paper or his manager saying this shit?
Agree, he's still learning how to play against NRL STD players. I've been harping on about giving this guy as much game time as possible and I stand by this however the young bloke is getting needled up to play and that is wrong. If he's injured then we need to look after him.
The boss has spoken.
www.foxsports.com.au
Been saying for weeks the kid needed a break, plenty of blokes disagreeing, but it was obvious the kid was jaded, and there were indications that he had been playing injured. He’s been getting bashed every week. Look where he is mentally now??? Nutz?Galvin finally rested as Tigers offer fresh deal to drop release request
The 18-year-old rookie sensation has needed pain-killing injections to keep playing through a hand injury. But the club will take him out of the line of fire as it prepares a shock response to his release request.www.smh.com.au
The Wests Tigers have promised to extend the contract of boom teenager Lachlan Galvin beyond 2026 if he decides to drop a request for an immediate release from the NRL strugglers.
As coach Benji Marshall faces a halves crisis with Galvin and No.7 Jayden Sullivan to both miss Saturday’s clash against the Titans, Tigers chief executive Shane Richardson has offered Galvin’s management an immediate upgrade and longer deal.
The peace offering was made after Galvin asked the club last week to be released from the remainder of his deal, a blow for the Tigers before they suffered their ninth straight loss in a 54-12 hammering at the hands of the Dragons on Friday night.
Galvin’s inquiry was nothing new for the Tigers.
His management had asked for a release even before the season began, but after being handed his NRL debut in round two, the 18-year-old has been the shining light for the Tigers in another torrid season.
But it hasn’t stopped him agitating for a new NRL club, the latest question swiftly knocked back by the Tigers.
Instead, Richardson has told Galvin’s manager, Isaac Moses, it will offer fresh terms beyond the end of his current deal – due to expire at the end of 2026 – if the Australian Schoolboys star stays put at Concord.
While no clubs are allowed to speak to Galvin about his future from next year given he’s still under contract at the Tigers, multiple sources not allowed to speak publicly on the matter said the player is interested in the possibility of lining up alongside Nathan Cleary in the halves at Penrith.
There is no suggestion the Panthers or any other club has raised the issue of prying Galvin away from the Tigers with Moses.
Cleary’s current halves lieutenant, Jarome Luai, will join the Tigers on a mammoth five-year deal from 2025, and the club had earmarked Galvin as his long-term scrumbase partner.
The Galvin drama comes after the Tigers agreed to release Isaiah Papali’i from the final year of his deal to join Penrith from 2025, and having tabled prop Stefano Utoikamanu a five-year, $4 million offer if he doesn’t take up an option to become a free agent.
Utoikamanu must play the final two Origin games this year to be contracted to the Tigers next season. Otherwise, he’s free to talk to rival clubs.
What is certain, though, is the Tigers will rest Galvin from their showdown with the Titans at Leichhardt Oval on Saturday as he battles a hand injury which has required pain-killing injections in recent weeks.
He’s playing in the toughest league in the world, while it would have been nice, to give him a spell, we haven’t had that type of opportunity, with suspensions and injuries.
If he doesn’t want to work with Luai next season, then he’s not being serious, imo.
Good find, thanks for posting @Ron's_Mate‘I don’t care’: The blunt Luai response which will hearten Tigers fans
By Dan Walsh
June 11, 2024 — 5.00am
In the nicest, or maybe just the bluntest, way possible, Jarome Luai isn’t interested in discussing his future halves partner Lachlan Galvin wanting out of the Tigers.
Or that Stefano Utoikamanu is thinking the same way, despite having a five-year, $4 million offer to stay.
“I don’t really care what’s going on over there at the moment,” the Panthers five-eighth says. “I’m worried about winning my fourth [premiership] ring here, so that’s what matters to me. I’m not too worried about that.”
The Tigers have worries coming out of the walls at Concord, but Luai offers sorely needed relief as he fills out Nathan Cleary’s No.7 jumper for the premiers at the moment.
He’ll earn $6 million over the next five years as the Tigers halfback from next season, with Benji Marshall and Shane Richardson staking the club’s turnaround on Luai as the mother of all statement signings.
His performances on both sides of the ball speak to a confidence Ivan Cleary has rarely seen from one of the game’s most confident figures, with Luai’s running game and other key involvements off the charts against the Warriors, Sharks and Sea Eagles.
Especially compared to the last time he played halfback in Cleary’s absence three years ago. In three games steering the Panthers around en route to their 2021 title, Luai ran the ball 20 times for a combined 95 metres.
These past three weeks, he has run 49 times for 424 metres, with two tries, two assists and 18 tackle busts to boot.
“I really know I have to step up without [Cleary] being there so I’m relishing that role,” Luai says. “I’ve just got to be more hands on I think, especially with the kicking and the direction of where we’re going as a team and how our sets are looking … I had a bit of a slow start this year and I think that was more to do with my shoulder surgery.
“This being my last year [at Penrith], it’s the last ride and I want to make sure I have my best year.”
In Penrith’s entertaining 32-22 win over Manly on Sunday, Luai was in absolutely everything, niggling Luke Brooks into a defensive lapse, forcing another error with contact on Tof Sipley and bundling Jason Saab into touch.
Afterwards, Brad Fittler was left raving about Luai’s running game, constantly shifting Penrith’s attack from left to right, skipping across the line and dragging reluctant defenders in.
Luai’s crossfield searching can exasperate fans at times, particularly behind a struggling pack. But even for a 12-man NSW side last Wednesday night, tries to James Tedesco and Zac Lomax followed Luai turning on a dime and taking a hard right with left-edge plays.
Of course, steering the Penrith ship might just be the best job in rugby league.
Tigers skipper Api Koroisau can tell his old premiership-winning teammate how quickly life changes when you move across town and down the other end of the ladder.
The Tigers are bullish about hanging onto Galvin despite the 18-year-old’s numerous release requests. CEO Shane Richardson is ready to offer an immediate upgrade and longer deal beyond 2026 to keep him.
In the nicest way possible, Richardson and rookie coach Marshall’s challenges seem to be growing by the day.
But so did Penrith’s a month ago, when Cleary tore his hamstring against the Bulldogs after back-up No.7 Brad Schneider had gone down with a knee injury earlier that night.
“It was a real opportunity for [Luai],” Ivan Cleary says, “not just an opportunity for him though, we needed him. He’s absolutely stepped up and played really well.”
In his own words, Luai has relished it.
‘I don’t care’: The blunt Luai response which will hearten Tigers fans
The Penrith playmaker’s future club is lurching from one drama to another. But their star signing’s brief transition to the No.7 jumper can offer the Tigers sorely needed relief.
