Parramatta emerge as front-runners to sign Galvin
Joel Gould |
Parramatta have emerged as one of the front-runners to sign Wests Tigers teenager Lachlan Galvin.
The move has the backing of club legend Brett Kenny who told AAP that Galvin would be “the perfect complement for halfback Mitchell Moses” just as he was in the halves alongside Peter Sterling in the 1980s.
The 19-year-old will leave the Tigers at the end of 2026 and will become a free agent on November 1, when clubs are able to table formal offers.
AAP understands the Eels are getting all their ducks in a row in the background to secure Galvin, although Canterbury are also understood to be right in the mix.
Manly coach Anthony Seibold on Tuesday ruled the Sea Eagles out of the running.
“We haven’t discussed Lachlan,” Seibold said.
“I don’t know where Lachlan will end up. I admire him from a distance, but he won’t be at Manly.”
There are several factors playing into Parramatta having a whip hand. They will have salary cap space with current five-eighth Dylan Brown set to join Newcastle next year on a multi-million dollar deal.
Mitchell Moses is a huge fan of Galvin and wants a playmaker of class beside him. Moses and Galvin are both managed by influential agent Isaac Moses.
The Eels are unlikely to re-sign off-contract forwards Ryan Matterson and Joe Ofahengaue and that will free up further salary cap space.
Galvin, although a Western Suburbs junior initially, was signed to the Eels as a teenager in the Harold Matthews Cup so his return would be a homecoming of sorts.
In a statement on Tuesday night, Galvin said “any suggestion that I already have a deal done at another club for 2027 is simply not true”, while Tigers boss Shane Richardson insisted Wests would not be releasing the teenager before his contract expires at the end of 2026.
Galvin was dropped from the first-grade side to play Parramatta on Easter Monday at Commbank Stadium with senior players backing the decision.
Kenny, Parramatta’s greatest five-eighth and four-time premiership winner, has backed the club’s quest for Galvin.
“If they sign Galvin it will only be good for Parramatta,” Kenny told AAP.
“You have Mitchell Moses who will control the game and then we can let the young kid mature and do his thing. I think it will work really well.
“It can be just like myself and Sterlo in the 80s. Sterlo controlled the play and the whole game. I was never one to do that.
“I was always one to do things off the top of my head and Galvin is like that. He will play off-the-cuff and create things for the players inside and outside him.
“A lot of times the last few years Mitchell has had to try and do everything because there wasn’t much happening on the other side (of the field). Galvin likes to try things and that will help Mitchell concentrate on what he is doing.”
AAP
