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In-stadium commentary at Mt SmartNRL legend predicts Galvin is Belmore-bound as transfer fee revealed
Sam Kosack • May 23rd, 2025 8:00 am
NRL great Matty Johns thinks Wests Tigers’ half Lachlan Galvin will sign with the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs as the Tigers reveal the transfer fee for their star five-eighth.
Earlier in the week, the Wests Tigers granted Galvin permission to leave the club with the condition that a transfer fee be paid.
The price for his release has now been revealed as $165,000 with the Parramatta Eels and Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs emerging as the two favourites for his signature.
The Eels seem the most appropriate landing place for Galvin with Dylan Brown departing at the end of the season and Galvin himself being a Parramatta fan as a kid.
However, NRL great Matty Johns feels Galvin will sign with the ladder-leading Bulldogs but was wary of a potential combination between Burton and Galvin, particularly if it came at the cost of Toby Sexton.
“The Eels have been the red-hot favourites the whole way through but I’ve just got a gut feel he’d end up at the Bulldogs,” Johns said on SEN 1170 Drive.
“The tom toms are beating… I think he does (leave this season) which would make it a little more problematic for the Dogs.
“I know what Gus (Gould) and Cameron Ciraldo think of Lachie Galvin but they’re flying at the moment and a season that’s going really good, you can bring in your own problems.
“I’m just looking at the Toby Sexton situation and Toby for the last 12 months has pushed them around the park so well.
“It’s testimony to Sexton that he’s been able to play so well with all this pressure on him.
“I think in the next 18 months, they see (Galvin) as a six, and then when he starts to thicken out as a ball-playing 13… he looks like a really traditional ball-playing back rower.
“I just wonder, if he does go there, are they able to keep Sexton? Because if they allow Sexton to go for Galvin, there’s a problem there.
“That would be a serious problem if you go right, we got Galvin and we got Burton who’s going to play seven… that’d take a lot of adjusting.”
Toby Sexton is off contract at year’s end and is yet to re-sign with the Bulldogs, despite the team currently being on top of the ladder.
Off-contract Broncos’ captain Adam Reynolds has confirmed he has been approached by the Wests Tigers in a move that would see the veteran halfback return to Sydney to steer the team with Jarome Luai at five-eighth.
Denan Kemp believes Reynolds would be an astute signing for the joint venture.
“I think it would be a great opportunity for Reynolds, but I also think it’s exactly what the Tigers need,” Kemp said.
“I think it’d be a really good get for the Tigers especially to help Latu Fainu to develop as a young player.
“You’ve got other young guys, core spine players who could learn quite a lot, and then you’ve got Luai who you can argue goes back to his preferred position for at least a couple of years.”
