Wantaway Wests Tigers star breaks silence on 'big couple of weeks' as youngster receives surprising reception on NRL return
It's been a busy month for wantaway Wests Tigers star Lachlan Galvin but amid all the furore around his impending exit from the NRL club, the 19-year-old playmaker appears dedicated to helping his side keep winning.
The five-eighth returned to feature for Benji Marshall's side this weekend as he proved a pivotal cog in the Wests Tigers' two-point victory against Cronulla Sharks at the Leichhardt Oval.
The youngster set up two tries in an impressive attacking performance that saw him also make 29 tackles.
After turning his nose up at a $5.5million offer from the Tigers to extend his contract for a further six years, per The Sydney Morning Herald, it had been thought that Galvin would receive a hostile welcome back on his first-grade return.
In fact, the youngster was heavily cheered by the fans on Sunday, despite speculation having arisen that certain members of the team were not pleased with Galvin's desire to test his worth on the open market.
On Easter Monday, Galvin was demoted to play for the Wests Magpies in the New South Wales Cup but on Sunday he spoke to members of the media after the match.
'I wanted to make sure I came in and was doing everything for the team, it wasn't about me this week,' Galvin said to Fox League.
'It was Anzac Round and we just wanted to come in and do everyone proud, do our fans proud, that's what we wanted to do this week and not worry about myself.
'I just wanted to come out here and do the team proud and all of us boys did that tonight.
'Obviously, it's been a big couple of weeks and to get the win in front of the fans, that's why you play the game of rugby league, to win and come out and do it in front of the fans. It was a great win, we'll get back to training next week and work even harder and go again next week.'
Despite being dropped last week from the first-grade squad, Galvin said he was feeling the love from fans and his team-mates.
'I'm feeling great, I've massive support around me, all I want to do is play rugby league, that's the reason I live to be honest, to play this game and that's all I want to do, work hard and let my footy do the talking.
'Obviously, it's been a big couple of weeks but to come out here and win is great.'
Adam Doueihi booted a penalty to seal the golden point victory for the Tigers and copped praise from his young team-mate, Galvin, who called his shot at goal 'clutch'.
Doueihi, meanwhile, revealed that the past two weeks had 'rattled' Galvin, lauding the youngster for coming out to perform on Sunday.
'He was really good, he's a kid that's probably been a bit rattled over the past few weeks and I really do feel for him the way he's been bombarded with the media and all the outside noise but inside our four walls we really do have high respect for the kid,' Doueihi said.
'I get on really well with him, he's a really down-to-earth kid that just loves playing footy.
'You could see that tonight the way he came out and just owned the game and still put his plays on is a credit to the kid himself and I'm glad he was in our team today.'
Galvin is understood to have served the club a legal letter, according to The Sydney Morning Herald, in which he claimed that he had been bullied.
He has been subjected to intense scrutiny over the past fortnight but on Friday, members of his team fronted the media to deny that there was any tension in camp, even after team-mates Jarome Luai and Sunia Turuva had published social media posts that appeared to criticise his actions.
Senior coach Marshall, meanwhile, was not interested in talking about the ongoing saga ahead of today's game, adding that no one needed to know why the young five-eighth was recalled to the team.
'Everyone wants to know why I picked the team; you don't need to know why,' Marshall said.
'I picked the team that I think is best for us this week, and we'll go with that… We've made a real effort to just move on and focus on what we can control now, and that's playing footy.
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