Lachlan Galvin has insisted that he left Wests Tigers with no ill-will towards coach Benji Marshall and halves partner Jarome Luai, while revealing that a former school mentor was hugely influential in him choosing the Bulldogs over the Eels.
Galvin is now officially a Bulldogs player and could debut in blue and white against Parramatta on Monday — reportedly off the bench.
While the Eels were left at the altar, the Tigers and their fans have been left stung by Galvin’s stunning rejection of a $5 million offer; with the clear rationale that he did not want to continue under Marshall’s coaching, while he was reportedly also put out when Luai was signed as the club’s chief playmaker.
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“Benji was great to me, I’m so grateful for Benji giving me my debut,” Galvin told Nine News.
“It wasn’t coaching, it was more just developing, and that was all on me. I wanted a change, and I just felt a change would get me out of my comfort zone.
“Jarome [and I] got on fine. We probably weren’t going over each other’s houses, having sleepovers and that.
“People like to think that we never got on, but behind the scenes we were always talking and never got to a point where we hated or never spoke to each other … I never walked into Concord once thinking, ‘Stuff him, he’s come in here and taken the reins’.”
Galvin reportedly had a condition in his Wests Tigers release that he could not disparage the club, after what became a bitter split.
The 19-year-old said he could understand if Tigers fans felt animosity towards him.
“I understand where [Tigers fans] are coming from. I think they can have their opinion, and they can have their hatred and that against me. I understand that,” Galvin told Nine.
“The main thing is I never wanted to disrespect the club, I never wanted to hurt the club. I was doing this for my best interests and I hope [for] success for the whole club.
“This whole thing was my decision. I had told [agent] Isaac [Moses] what I wanted, and he says, ‘Yes’. I’ve run this thing, I’ve backed myself, and I’m a pretty confident kid in that way. I’ve chosen what I’ve wanted, and obviously we’ve got all this backlash from it, and I’ll take that on the chin because it’s something I’ve driven.”
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Apart from being keen to play in Bulldogs coach Cameron Ciraldo’s ladder-leading side, Galvin will reunite with his old Westfields Sports High mentor Luke Vella at Canterbury. Vella is an assistant to Ciraldo.
“100 per cent, Luke Vella is a massive part of the reason why I’m playing NRL at the moment,’’ Galvin told CODE Sports.
“To know that he’s here and that I trust him, he’s just been a massive figure in my footy career.
“It’s going to be exciting to work alongside him. From doing that schoolboys level to now the NRL level is cool.
Galvin was reportedly all but signed with Parramatta just 48 hours before he agreed to join the Bulldogs.
“I was back and forth with the Doggies and Eels,’’ Galvin told CODE.
“I had a pretty big meeting with me, my family, (managers) Adam (Brahme) and Isaac (Moses) and we just went through the positives and negatives and put them all together.
“I wrote a lot of stuff down. I think if you write it down and look at it from both angles, both positives and negatives on the piece of paper — and I’m not saying there were more negatives at Parra, but I just came up with my final decision and it was the Dogs.
“Having mum and dad listen to what I thought was the best decision for me, I had their support and they were going to back me on whatever decision I made.’’
Galvin said he did not meet Bulldogs football GM Phil Gould until he started training with the club. He said while he was intent on playing in the Dogs’ halves – he is tipped to replace Toby Sexton at halfback, alongside gun five-eighth Matt Burton – he had told Ciraldo that he was happy to begin in NSW Cup to “earn my stripes and earn the boys’ and coaches’ trust”.
“I’ve already spoken to Ciro about that,” he told Nine.
“We’ve had long talks about reserve grade and coming off the bench and I’m all for it. It’s whatever is best for that team.
“They are coming first and I don’t expect to walk into that team straight away. [Ciraldo] threw up a number of positions which was quite surprising. So I’m going there practicing all the crafts for a lot of positions.
“How [Ciraldo] has this club running, it’s obviously something I want to be a part of.”
Galvin reportedly signed for about $750,000 per season over the next three and a half years.
