Lachlan Galvin will be on the open market at the end of this season.
Wait for the fireworks.
Don’t laugh, but at least $15 million – and possibly $20 million – isn’t out of the question if clubs do what Newcastle did with Dylan Brown and try to entice Galvin with a mind-blowing ten-year deal.
It might sound ridiculous, but the halves market is so tight, his promise so high and his age so tender, many clubs might try and blow away the $13m Brown deal.
Yes, the kid is just 19 and only in his second season of NRL. No-one knows whether he’s going to be a champion or merely a good career NRL halfback. But you’d have to think he’ll be at least the latter.
Galvin is contracted to the Wests Tigers until the end of 2026, so is available to talk to other clubs come November 1.
Hot property: Lachlan Galvin.Credit: NRL Photos
There are so many dynamics at play. New teams from PNG and possibly Perth will put further pressure on the market. Under-performing and rebuilding teams will be desperate to sign quality playmakers. Significantly, there is a new TV rights deal to be negotiated, with astronomical figures being talked up.
It’s the perfect storm driven by the basic economic principle of supply and demand.
Galvin is managed by Isaac Moses. He’ll drive the hardest of hard bargains. Mitch Moses is also managed by Isaac, who is his uncle. Moses has signed for life at Parramatta and needs a halves partner now that Brown is leaving, which also means his cash is available in their cap.
The Eels are in a dire situation and Galvin, a Parramatta junior, would be a natural fit to play alongside Moses.
Galvin helped the Tigers to an impressive victory over the Dolphins on Saturday.Credit: Getty Images
Over at Manly, Daly Cherry-Evans is, at 36, nearing the end of his career. His groundbreaking ten-year contract is over at the completion of this season.
With Galvin available in 2027, the Sea Eagles might fancy their chances of signing another ten-year-half. Manly coach Anthony Seibold is another managed by Isaac Moses.
Then there’s another desperate club, St George Illawarra – whose coach, Shane Flanagan, is yet another Moses client. Judging by the way Flanagan has been talking in public recently, he too might be needing a long-term halfback solution.
Currently, his son Kyle is the Dragons’ five-eighth, and Lachie Ilias the halfback. But Flanagan raised eyebrows throughout the game when he publicly threw Ilias under the bus following the Dragons’ 25-24 capitulation to the Rabbitohs in round two.
Asked about his No.7’s display, a grumpy Flanagan told reporters, “You can make your own assessment.”
The Dragons recruited Ilias in the off-season after Flanagan’s relationship with the Dragons’ last halfback, Ben Hunt, fell to pieces. In Ilias, he and the club knew they were taking on a player whose confidence needed rebuilding after a turbulent time at his previous club.
Having been tipped by former Souths coach Jason Demetriou to become “the best halfback the club has had in a long time”, Ilias was dropped to reserve grade early last season and snapped his leg in two playing NSW Cup.
Flanagan picked up the phone to Ilias the following day to personally apologise, but the damage was done. Ilias’s agent, Braith Anasta, rightly summed it up when he said Flanagan had now put a target on Ilias’s back.
No one likes a public bake, especially one laced with anger, and a promising young half might now be wary of Flanagan’s short fuse.
Lachlan Ilias had an ordinary afternoon against the Rabbitohs, but did it warrant the treatment from his coach?Credit: NRL Photos
Galvin would be a good fit for the Roosters alongside Sam Walker, provided Walker recovers from his second knee reconstruction. However, the Roosters dislike Isaac Moses and won’t deal with him.
Then there’s Galvin’s current club, the Wests Tigers. With Jarome Luai on the books on a five-year, $6m deal, they can’t afford to lose his potential long-term halves partner.
Especially with Luai having an exit clause after next year, which means he’s effectively on a two-year deal.
CEO Shane Richardson might have to go all Godfather and make Galvin “an offer he can’t refuse” if the club wants him off the market before other clubs can talk to him.
The new television deal ARL Chairman Peter V’Landys wants done in the next few months looms as Richardson’s biggest problem.
Rather than lock in long-term deals for their clients, every manager in the game will sit back and wait to see what the rights package looks like.
The current deal, which was worth about $2 billion over five years, runs to the end of the 2027 season.
The NRL has begun its public campaign to soften up potential suitors. There talk of a $3 billion target over five years, with the 50 per cent increase to be driven by the possibility global players such as Netflix, Paramount+, Disney and Amazon Prime might be in the mix to challenge Fox Sports’ hold on pay TV rights.
By then, Fox Sports will be owned by global sports brand Dazn, which takes over from Foxtel (News Corporation) as new owner on July 1.
Dazn simply has to throw money at, and keep, the NRL rights – otherwise it will be a bit-part player on the Australian eastern seaboard.
In the free-to-air space, Nine, the publisher of this masthead, and Seven are the two most likely candidates, and there’s the possibility of splitting finals matches and State of Origin from the home and away season to maximise revenue.
Whatever happens, there’ll be more money – and more money means a higher salary cap.
In 2026, the cap will be $11.55 million. If rights go up 40 to 50 per cent, the players will demand the cap goes by the same amount.
So if the cap sits at $15 million or more for 2027, when Galvin is available, and even more again after 2032 in the next rights cycle, what is Galvin worth to a desperate club over ten years?
Michael Chammas and Andrew “Joey” Johns dissect the upcoming NRL round, plus the latest footy news, results and analysis. Sign up for the Sin Bin newsletter.
