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
My mates cousins daughters dogs cousins owners cat was abducted by aliens and was told @^&^<+,'vzhy》¤¤♧°●, take it as you will.
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Mannnn it's a small world, looks like we know the same person.
If Galvin doesn't come, I honestly could care less.
We only want players that want to bleed blue & gold for this club and Ryles. If that's not Galvin, so be it.
Sandon Smith could very well do a job and I like the look of him as a 5/8th. Might even come cheaper and allow us to pick up some decent forwards to add to our forward depth.
Couldn't give two shits if the quitter comes to parra or not. Joash papalili is the man for the job fuck galvin.
I honestly reckon Papalii could be just as good as brown in attack. It's just defensively which I'm worried about. Even Ezra Mam who is an inch taller then him and has been in the NRL for 3 years is still struggling defensively
Ijust guess we will just have to wait and see what the stuff happens . All i know is is all this bullshit is giving me a dry horn 🙄
I find it strange the narrative that the Bulldogs is the best place for Galvin to develop his game.
They dogs haven't been able to develop quality haves in years.
Their last decent halves were Hodgkinson and Reynolds , hardly the best in the game.
Galvin would be going to a club who might be on top of the ladder at the moment but have no gears, they'll be out in straight sets finals time.
Gus understands they have a class issue, effort and attitude only gets you so far Parra fans under BA know this more then most.
If Galvin went to the dogs where the fans themselves prefer the status quo ,he would be under enormous pressure playing outside a vanilla halfback in a system he'd have to learn on the run while being the dominant half.
Mistakes will be amplified by their supporter base and lambasted by other teams supporters.
losses will be blamed on a 19 yo kid, after the year his had so far it'd have to have an affect.
The best interest for his football development is to play outside a top 3 halfback where he can focus on what's in front of him without the pressure.
if Parra can get a couple of quality forwards they'll rocket up the premiership ladder.
The best 5/8s in the game are only as good as their halfback allows them to be, Galvin would be playing in lead boots at the dogs.
The dogs are a team that's going to head into finals more beat up then most with the style they play, they don't have the cattle to play different styles or up the ante significantly during a game.
At the moment there a very solid regular season football team that's lacks finesse to reach the pinnacle.
Stop it you are talking to much sense 😂