Officials from the Canterbury Bulldogs and Parramatta Eels have met with Lachlan Galvin and tabled offers of around $750,000 a season to the 19-year-old playmaker.
The Bulldogs and Eels held meetings with Galvin on Wednesday as he prepares to make a decision on his future as early as this weekend.
The offers from the powerhouse Sydney clubs are for considerably less than the salary Wests Tigers chief executive Shane Richardson was willing to pay Galvin when he prepared a contract upgrade and extension worth close to $6 million over five years. It’s believed the offers from Parramatta and Canterbury are for a shorter duration.
Galvin’s decision to turn down Richardson’s offer and potentially accept $3.5 million less to move across town speaks to his frustration with his development at the Tigers.
The Tigers have attached a transfer fee of close to $165,000 to Galvin’s release before November 1 – a sum Parramatta and Canterbury are willing to pay. It is considerably less than the fee of close to seven figures the Tigers initially sought to impose.
The Bulldogs have long maintained a strategy of only signing players who want to play for the club. Sources with knowledge of the situation talking on the condition of anonymity told the Herald Galvin has a strong desire to play under Cameron Ciraldo at the Bulldogs.
Increasing the appeal of the Bulldogs is Galvin’s relationship with assistant coach Luke Vella, a close friend and Galvin’s former high school teacher.
Galvin has also struck up a relationship with Parramatta halfback Mitchell Moses, who has been in the playmaker’s ear about joining the Eels to wear the No.6 jersey set to be vacated by Dylan Brown when he joins Newcastle on a record $13 million deal next year.
Galvin’s future at the Bulldogs wouldn’t be as straightforward, with Matt Burton the incumbent five-eighth at Belmore. Galvin’s potential arrival would all but end Toby Sexton’s time at the club and put Ciraldo in a position where he has to develop a No.7 from within.
Galvin last month informed the Tigers of his desire to depart at the end of his contract, which runs until the end of 2026.
Parramatta haven’t hidden their desire to lure Galvin, a childhood Eels supporter. Parramatta coach Jason Ryles sees hims as the ideal replacement for Brown.
“I made my [interest] clear a couple of weeks ago. That hasn’t changed, so we’ll wait and see what happens,” Ryles said. “The rule is you can’t negotiate until they get permission to, so until that happens we’ll keep our position there. Lots of strange things happen in footy [though], but we’ll make sure we do the right thing with the NRL.”
Replies
if he goes to the dogs it would be same same in regards to team culture. He has crichton there who is best mates with Jerome and co
Actually shocked how low the eels offer is and how well they have handled the situation haha. They must have sandon smith ready as a 2nd option because they haven't really gone over and beyond for Galvin.
Yeah agree
At this stage the dogs can have him.
I'd up the offer if I suspect he's going dogs just to fuck em.
The fact he's talking to the dogs is enough of a turn off 😂 go get sandon smith and some forwards we will live
Im with you Frank. Screw the lying dogs.
if the offers are as low as 750K likely he'll only sign for a coupla years and then have to go to market A gain! then in no time, all this complete shite again in no time. Perth in the mix etc etc No thanks!
I would be getting Cronin, Price, Hindmarsh and O'Reilly to pop around to visit with the entire family and ask him to continue the tradition and help us win the Premiership
If parra can't offer the same money DB is on this will do me.. We need to improve our team drastically and this is a good start! Also getting one up on the bulldogs would also be a positive vibe around the club with this signing how can they stuff this up??
If it "does you" Merkin in would be worth the pain.
Apparently, he has a handshake deal with the dogs, hard to stomach.
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