We all know the true strength of rugby league lies in its tribalism. People supporting the same teams their parents and grandparents followed, bonding with others with similar lifelong attachments to a club for a couple of hours of escapism each week. It is the thrill of screaming your lungs out in passionate support of a team of footballers giving their all to help you experience the joy of winning. It is you and your team against the rest, a sense of belonging, a loyalty to the colours through the darkest and the brightest times.
So, when you see a young player developing into a star at your club, you want to believe that he has the same passion and dedication to the jersey that you have. You want to see him give his all and contribute to your club's success. Through the lean times you dream of developing or poaching such talent. As much as you will go on supporting your club through mediocrity, you yearn for victories, for titles, for the ultimate celebration. The promise that surrounds an upcoming star can be intoxicating, particularly to fans of a struggling club.
When that young player decides to leave for greener pastures, there is a feeling of betrayal. You know you can't leave your team for greater rewards elsewhere, why should anyone? You were in this fight together!
Wests Tigers announced this week that star 19-year-old Lachlan Galvin would not be at the club beyond the end of the 2026 season, when his current contract expires. With the Nov. 1 deadline on the horizon, after which Galvin would be able to negotiate with other clubs, the Tigers were keen to secure him as an integral part of their ongoing rebuild. Reports suggest the Tigers were prepared to table a healthy $5 million five-year deal, but were told not to even bother. Galvin and his management are keen to test his value on an open market which has such a dearth of quality halves, that Dylan Brown recently signed a 10-year contract with the Knights worth a reported $13-$14 million. The club and fans have seen this move as a disrespectful slap in the face, particularly with rumours circulating that Galvin didn't feel as though coach Benji Marshall was helping his development. Galvin was less specific when discussing his decision.
"I just feel that as I move into an important period of my development as a half, that I continue to build my game at a different club," Galvin said.
"Again, I know this might be hard for some people to understand, but I make this decision in the best interests of my career."
We know these young men have a very limited time at the pinnacle of their rugby league careers, the time when they are able to make a decent amount of money out of the game. The very best and most resilient can stretch a career out to maybe 15 years, but serious injury lurks in every tackle, and the fickle nature of form and development constantly threatens their long-term employability.
The difficulty for the fans in Galvin's case stems from the fact that the Tigers have not only been rock bottom for a long time, but they also have a dark history of losing their most talented players to contracts the club couldn't match. Think James Tedesco, Mitchell Moses and, at one point anyway, Aaron Woods.
Now, just as they have assembled a team that looks likely to bring fans some happiness, one of their brightest stars has very publicly proclaimed that his own future is more important than that of the club's.
A big part of turning a perennially awful team around is to rebuild the club culture. You can't bring success to a club simply by adding talent, you need the players to buy into the system, believe in the coach, be willing to trust the players around them and to understand and share a passion and desire to win.
Clubs look for leaders to develop their culture and the Tigers have signed players like Apisai Koroisau and Jarome Luai in recent years to guide their resurgence. Koroisau and Luai were reportedly behind Galvin's relegation to reserve grade this week, approaching coach Benji Marshall to state that they would not be happy playing alongside the young man who would rather be somewhere else. Whether or not that is fair on Galvin, it sends a strong message to the rest of the players that they need to be all in or not in at all.
Are the players truly invested in the tribalism, and do they have to be? Sure they want to win, and to do so they must be willing to go into battle with the players around them each week, but does it really matter what colours those players are wearing? If winning is the mark of a successful career, why should it matter to a player who he wins with? Why wouldn't he move to a team more likely to provide him the opportunity to be successful? If he has maybe 10 years to set himself up for life, why should he care that you have been passionate about your club for as long as you can remember? Why should he play for less to keep you happy?
The Galvin situation has stirred up so much animosity and comment section angst, churned through so many column inches and produced such an abundance of podcast and panel show hot air. At a time when a lot of rugby league fans are struggling to make ends meet, it can come across as self-entitled greed when a footballer turns his back on his club so boldly for the sake of financial rewards, which are well above and beyond the reach of the majority of those fans.
The problem is, when players regularly place themselves ahead of the clubs' best interests, they are damaging the very tribalism which ensures the survival of the game they are so invested in. If fans turn away from the game because they feel the players are not as emotionally committed as they are, there will be a diminishing pie for the players to share.
Still, none of the fans or clubs seem all that concerned when a player's career is cut short and he finds himself battling long term injuries and limited employment options. If a player works hard enough and develops a level of talent that has clubs clambering for his services, he would be mad not to take full advantage.
On top of all the factors that make the Galvin situation so aggravating, however, is the way he and his management have handled it. There has to be a more respectful way for a young star of the game to break the hearts of thousands of fans.