‘Take a chill pill': Benji Marshall's defence of Lachlan Galvin exposes NRL circus
West Tigers coach Benji Marshall has thrown his support behind Lachlan Galvin after the emerging five-eighth announced plans to leave the NRL club.
Photograph: Dean Lewins/AAP
Benji Marshall seemed to be playing another game to his opponents over his 346-game NRL career, moving in ways that didn't make sense and then, in his advancing years, adapting to became one of the sport's great conductors.
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As a coach, he has been belittled and ridiculed, questioned for what some believe is an unjustified elevation to the Wests Tigers job. He has been taunted for his team's subsequent failures, and teased for daring to think of a life of family, of authenticity, of something bigger than rugby league.
Marshall may dance to a different beat but it was hard to do anything but follow along as the sharpest minds in the NRL's media surrounded the former five-eighth at the season's most anticipated press conference on Thursday. A drumbeat of questions seemed to wear Marshall down. 'You're asking me heaps of 'do I think' [questions]. I don't know. I don't know. Mate...', he began ominously.
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In Australian sport, nothing good ever follows in a sentence beginning with the M-word. Just ask Ange Postecoglou. 'We need to keep working on what's best for us to win games,' Marshall continued, his tone becoming agitated.
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The head coach took the step this week, in consultation with senior players, to drop five-eighth Lachlan Galvin to reserve grade. The highly-touted 19-year-old has been a solid contributor in the Tigers' rise up the ladder to seventh place.
But Galvin has become embroiled in the NRL's latest contract saga and, following tense negotiations in recent weeks, made the decision to leave the competition's battlers when his current deal ends in 18 months.
A club statement on Monday sought to put the matter in the past: 'Despite the club having the largest contract offer for a junior in the history of the club on the table, Lachlan and his management have decided his future lies elsewhere and were not willing to review the offer,' the Tigers' statement said. 'The club is disappointed, but we move on.'
But at 11.05am on Monday, the NRL media machine was just whirring into action. And the unusually raw nature of the statement was just the fuel it craved. Cue four days of hysterical coverage, culminating in the showdown at Concord, rugby league's OK Corral. There, the straight shooter known as Benji reached for his revolver. 'Honestly, all these things are being dragged in and all these agendas,' he said.
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The Galvin saga has become a magnet for all of rugby league's ills. There is the unusual practice of allowing players to sign for another club more than a year before their existing contracts expire, a mechanism that is in theory great for players but can neuter the last year of a player's deal and draw them unwarranted social media hate.
It has shone a light on conflicts of interests. Of Bulldogs supremo Phil Gould using media opportunities to destabilise another club in a loophole around anti-tampering rules. Of Galvin's agent Isaac Moses and his influence at multiple clubs around the league.
It has exposed players' lack of judgment, after Galvin's team-mates Jarome Luai and Sunia Turuva both posted Instagram stories critical of the teenager's decision. The Rugby League Players Association has rightfully raised questions about the welfare of Galvin, but the five-eighth appeared to train happily on Thursday and accusations of bullying were rejected by Tigers players.
But amid this week's predictable circus, there was one unusual element. The merged club, which has endured 14 years without finals and is on a run of three-straight wooden spoons, may just be on the up.
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The Tigers have the league's fifth-best for-and-against, and their record has pushed them into the top eight. They meet strugglers Parramatta and St George Illawarra over the next three weeks, in two winnable matches sandwiching a Leichhardt Oval blockbuster against Cronulla. By the end of Magic Round next month, the Tigers' recent form suggests they could be in the top four.
This upturn in fortunes may have been in the back of Marshall's mind when – having already answered more questions than his media adviser would have liked – he opened his mouth one more time. His monologue lasted a full minute, and was even met by a smattering of applause at its conclusion.
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'What the pressure does is it makes you try and think you need to be something else, or change the way you are. I'm not going to change the way I am, okay,' Marshall started.
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The second-year coach had earlier revealed he was disappointed to hear of criticism from Galvin's manager of his perceived shortcomings that was used to justify the prodigy's departure. But amid the mania of this week, of all the agendas and hyperventilation, Marshall said the wellbeing of Galvin – a young man in his care – was the most important thing.
'I've got care for Lachy. That's been clear forever. I've never, not once, put him in a position where he felt uncomfortable. I'm all about the mental wellbeing of our players, for sure. And this has been tough for him, and his parents,' he continued. 'They're really good people, and they want the best for their son. And as a parent, I put myself in that position, I'd be wanting the same for my son.
'We need to just take a chill pill on the things we're saying about him and to him, and the threats and all that stuff. It's rugby league, the kid's going to move on at the end of 2026 when he goes, the club will move on, and so will he. So let's just chill with all the shit that's coming his way, and just let him play footy.'
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