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The Wests Tigers are reeling after teenage sensation Lachlan Galvin rejected a monster contract extension offer, in order to head to the open market.
The Tigers offered the 19-year old a five-year deal worth reportedly $5 million amid heavy rival interest.
However, the club confirmed on Monday Galvin would not remain at the club beyond the 2026 season, when his current contract expires.
“We would like to announce that Lachlan Galvin will not be with the club beyond the 2026 season,” a club statement reads.
“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.
Lachlan Galvin is tackled by Haumole Olakau’atu. (Photo by Jason McCawley/Getty Images)
“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.”
The news is a bitter blow for the Tigers amid a strong start to 2025, with the success-starved club sitting seventh on the NRL ladder with a 3-3 record.
The arrival of boom recruits Jarome Luai, Api Koroisau and others has led to renewed hope that the Tigers could appear in finals for the first time since 2011, or even claim a second NRL premiership as a joint venture.
Galvin has been one of the Tigers’ development pathway’s biggest recent success stories, joining the club’s junior program for a $5000 transfer fee from Parramatta and winning the Harold Matthews competition in 2022.
He reportedly requested a release from his contract in June last year following a string of heavy defeats, but later reaffirmed his committment to the club.
Parramatta and Manly are both hunting an elite playmaker for next season given the impending departures of Dylan Brown and Daly Cherry-Evans but would need to wait another year to have Galvin on their books.
Galvin played junior football for the Eels before being cut and landing at the Tigers to help feeder club Wests win the Harold Matthews Cup in 2022.
He is also managed by Isaac Moses, who also handles Eels half Mitch Moses.
But for Parramatta, making a play for Galvin would mean finding a stop-gap to play next to halfback Moses in 2026.
Galvin’s manager also has strong ties to the Sea Eagles, counting coach Anthony Seibold, five-eighth Luke Brooks and winger Tommy Talau among his clients there.
Manly are currently in the hunt for a playmaker to replace Cherry-Evans and have been linked with Canberra veteran Jamal Fogarty.
Canterbury general manager of football and broadcast pundit Phil Gould has previously spoken highly of Galvin, whom he last year rated as the best teenage talent he had ever seen.
The Bulldogs recently ruled out making a play for Cherry-Evans for 2026 on the grounds they backed their current first-choice playmakers Matt Burton and Toby Sexton.
But a 19-year-old with a bright future ahead could be a different proposition.
Manly have rejected claims from Ricky Stuart they may have breached anti-tampering rules, calling Canberra to insist no talks have begun with Jamal Fogarty.
The race for Fogarty’s signature will heat up this week, with the halfback able to talk to rivals and Stuart flying to the Gold Coast to meet with his management.
Stuart confirmed on Saturday night he would offer Fogarty a one-year deal, hopeful he could convince the No.7 not to sign with Manly.
The veteran coach also suggested he thought the Sea Eagles may already have approached Fogarty, prompting Manly officials to call the Raiders and tell them otherwise.
“We know the rules. We just don’t operate like that,” Manly CEO Tony Mestrov told AAP. “We wouldn’t want someone to do that to us.
“It couldn’t be further from the truth. We haven’t spoken, there is no offer. We can’t do that.”
NRL rules usually dictate players can be approached by rivals in the final year of their contract.
But given the Raiders had until Sunday to activate a clause for 2026 in Fogarty’s current deal, it’s believed Manly were not able to approach him earlier.
It’s expected they will attempt to speak with the 31-year-old in the coming weeks, keen to lure him on a two-year deal to replace Daly Cherry-Evans.
That would allow him to act as a bridge to Manly’s junior talent in Joey Walsh or Onitoni Large, with Tom Trbojevic still an option to move to No.6 if the Sea Eagles do not land Fogarty.
“I can say he is on a list of interested players, but there has been no discussion,” Mestrov said.
“We are lining our ducks up now. So we’ll start to have those discussions.”
Mestrov’s comments came after Stuart offered a four-minute response on why he wanted to keep Fogarty after Canberra’s 50-12 win over Parramatta on Saturday.
(Photo by Izhar Khan/Getty Images)
Stuart also conceded he could not offer Fogarty a multi-year deal, with plans for 21-year-old Ethan Sanders and 20-year-old Ethan Strange to be Canberra’s long-term halves.
“We want to keep Jamal. We want to sit down and renegotiate another year with him,” Stuart said.
“We will sit down with Jamal early this week and we will tell him exactly what we’ve got. He was very happy in regards to what I discussed with him early this week.
“I am honest to players and sometimes that hurts me. How do I know what is going to happen in a year’s time?
“There could be another deal, we might be sitting down this time next year dealing with Jamal again.
“I could tell a few lies to players to try and sign them and give them two or three year deals but I would rather lose a player than tell them a lie.”
Strange had his best game in Raiders colours in Saturday night’s win over Parramatta, scoring one try and setting up two others.
Sanders was brought to the club this year from Parramatta, and is currently out injured.
Fogarty, meanwhile, has continually been one of the Raiders’ most reliable players as a calm head in their halves after reaching his 100th game on Saturday.
“I want Jamal to bring through Ethan Sanders,” Stuart said.
“I don’t rush these young blokes at an early part of their career, or they can go out the back door as quick as they come in.”
Coach Benji Marshall knows his Wests Tigers don’t have to play the razzle-dazzle football he was once famous for to win games.
And as far as he’s concerned, that’s a good thing.
The Tigers ran out 20-6 victors against a scrappy Newcastle Knights outfit at McDonald Jones Stadium on Sunday.
This was far from the Tigers at their best. They had 40 play-the-balls in the attacking 20-metre zone and scored from four of them.
Like the Knights they made 14 errors, but the difference was the way they could repel Newcastle in key moments at both the start and end of the first half.
It was the kind of thing Marshall believes wouldn’t have happened last year, when the Tigers were the worst defensive side in the NRL and let in an average of 31.25 points per game.
Terrell May. (Photo by Scott Gardiner/Getty Images)
“We’ve tried to change our club into a defensive mindset type club, and the players have to buy into it,” he said.
“We brought in a couple of guys who drive that, like Jarome (Luai).
“I thought our attack was average tonight, if I’m being honest.
“We had a lot of possession in their half, inside their 20 that we should have capitalised on.
“In saying that, we’re still building on who we are as an attack. Obviously our new spine played three games together.”
Marshall’s men now sit inside the top eight after round six for the first time since 2020, as they gun for their first finals appearance in 14 years.
The Tigers outclassed the Knights in Newcastle, with Sunia Turuva scoring his seventh try of the season and Terrell May carving up 150 metres, the second most on the field.
Fullback Jahream Bula also shone as he assisted and scored a try of his own against a lacklustre Knights defence.
In comparison, Newcastle’s only try came in the final minute, when Turuva failed to clean up a grubber kick.
“In the context of our season, that coming off back-to-back losses, and coming to a place like Newcastle with how loud their crowd are, it’s actually really tough to play,” Marshall said.
“I was really disappointed with that last try, if I’m being honest, but at the same time you’ve got to put in context where we’ve come from last year to where we are now, and celebrate getting two points.”
with AAP
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