Canterbury Bulldogs Lachlan Galvin speaks on Wests Tigers exit, Benji Marshall and Jarome Luai

As Bulldogs coach Cameron Ciraldo weighs up a club debut for the teen star against Parramatta – who also went hard for him to partner Mitchell Moses – Galvin backed Marshall’s handling of him as a young playmaker.

Galvin’s shift from Concord to Belmore has been the biggest story of the NRL season, and particularly galling for beleaguered Tigers fans given he had been positioned as the club’s future and pitched a $5.5 million, six-year extension accordingly.

He has instead taken up a Bulldogs deal worth around $2.5 million until the end of 2028, and said Marshall’s coaching did not cost the Tigers their most promising local junior in a decade.

“Benji was great to me, I’m so grateful for Benji giving me my debut,” Galvin said.

“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.”

Of a reported falling out with Luai, Galvin said: “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’.”

Similarly, Galvin laughed off reports that Tigers players brushed his team address when he first confirmed his decision to eventually leave the club six weeks ago.

“I got up in front of [teammates] twice, we had a full team meeting with coaches and then with players, I spoke to them all and they all got behind me.”

Ciraldo was instrumental in Canterbury trumping the Eels for Galvin’s signature, along with assistant Luke Vella, who coached Galvin at Westfields Sports High School and remains a trusted confidant.

Football boss Phil Gould, who has worn criticism over his initial distancing of the Bulldogs from talks with the Tigers junior, did not meet Galvin until his final contract terms were being worked out.

Galvin was emphatic in his belief that he is an NRL-standard halfback, but said Ciraldo had not promised him the Bulldogs No.7 jersey occupied by off-contract halfback Toby Sexton.

Despite being one of the best young halves in the game, Galvin’s signing has been met in some quarters with fears it could destabilise the ladder leaders, particularly given Sexton is expected to depart at season’s end and hooker Reed Mahoney has also been given permission to test the market early.

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Galvin said he and Ciraldo had discussed the prospect of being eased into the Bulldogs set-up either against the Eels or in coming weeks, which he has no issues with.

“I’ve already spoken to Ciro about that,” he said.

“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.”

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