The Wests Tigers have produced some champion juniors over the course of the last 25 years and the latest crop might just be as good as any.
Think James Tedesco, Robbie Farah, Mitchell Moses – there’s a couple of young guns cutting their teeth at Concord right now who may well be able to compete against all of them.
The names to put down in the black book are teenagers Lachlan Galvin and Talyn Da Silva with young gun half Galvin set to debut for Wests Tigers in next weekend’s official NRL trials.
Galvin, 18, is straight out of Westfield Sports High School last year and despite still being a teenager is more than handling himself with the Wests Tigers top 30.
Tigers coach Benji Marshall, who knows a thing or two about being a young gun half, told Fox League Galvin has been a standout in everything he’s done over the course of the off season.
“He’s been outstanding. He reminds me a lot of a Scott Hill type of five-eighth where he’s big and robust and a great ball runner but then he can also ball play as well,” Marshall said.
“He’s been winning everything at training from the 1.2km time trial to whatever the challenge is he’s super fit and he’s got all the makings of a very good NRL player.”
With Shane Richardson taking over as CEO the Wests Tigers have finally got someone in the front office who knows what a Steeden actually looks like or when a player agent is selling a Datsun 180B disguised as a Mercedes.
Immediately, Richardson has shifted the focus to the Tigers being a development club with the case in point being Campbelltown juniors Galvin and Da Silva.
The teenagers are headlining a shift in focus from band-aid solutions of buying whoever is available on the open market to specifically targeting what the Wests Tigers need.
Galvin is a Campbelltown junior and Australian Schoolboy who won the Peter Sterling Medal as the best player in the National Schoolboys Cup grand final last year on the way to leading Westfield Sports High to the premiership.
Galvin and Da Silva, also a Westfield Sports product and a Campbelltown junior, were both part of the Wests Tigers team who won the Harold Matthews title in 2022.
As a ball-playing, strong, running five-eighth and creative, tough dummy-half, in many ways it’s the new age of Marshall and Farah at the Wests Tigers.
Which is ironic given both the champion playmakers are now on the coaching staff at the club. Farah will spearhead the Wests Tigers attack this season, John Morris is the defensive coach, Chris Heighington will work with the forwards and in effort areas and Marshall will oversee the lot.
For all the huff and puff about how well the Wests Tigers were supposedly going commercially – complete BS – the emergence of the two local juniors in Galvin and Da Silva is a currency that will actually resonate with members and fans.
The Tigers needs reason for optimism after a tough few seasons and the juniors are giving them reason to believe.
Galvin is tipped to partner new recruit Aiden Sezer in the halves in the trials with fellow new recruit Jayden Sullivan also tipped to spend time in a playmaking role.
Latu Fainu is still recovering from a hamstring issue meaning it’s going to be a three-way shoot out as to who wears the no.6 and no.7 when the NRL season begins in March.
From what we’ve heard about Galvin, it’s not a matter of if it’s just a matter of when.
