Wests Tigers chief executive Shane Richardson has urged the club’s fans to treat Lachlan Galvin like their own son as the wantaway teenage superstar prepares to make an emotional return to the NRL before a seething crowd at Leichhardt Oval on Sunday afternoon.

Richardson has also hit back at allegations of bullying at the Tigers, opened up on his combustible relationship with powerful agent Isaac Moses and lavished praise on under-fire coach Benji Marshall in an exclusive interview with this masthead.

The Tigers have been the club in the eye of a storm over the past week following revelations that Galvin was eyeing off a future elsewhere, having rejected the opportunity to discuss a contract extension that would have been worth $6 million for another five years.

Richardson never even got the chance to table the deal after Galvin’s management made it clear he would leave at the end of 2026, when his existing deal expires.

The Tigers responded to that decision and the backlash that followed by sending Galvin back to NSW Cup, where he played for Western Suburbs at the weekend only days after it emerged his management had sent the club a legal letter outlining claims of bullying and an unsafe workplace.

Richardson insisted the club would fight the claims – which appear headed for mediation after Galvin’s management enlisted high-profile silk Arthur Moses SC to take on his case – but in the meantime called on Tigers fans not to take out their frustration on Galvin.

“Lachlan Galvin is a great person, he’s a junior, he’s come through the club, he’s going to be with us for the next 18 months,” Richardson said.

“I’m not sure that people are jumping up and down, but I don’t disparage his decision at all, except that I don’t agree that Benji wouldn’t make him a better player.”

BULLYING CLAIMS

Galvin’s legal team confirmed in an email to this masthead on Tuesday that they were seeking urgent mediation to resolve the issues between the Tigers and their brightest young star.

While they declined to elaborate on their areas of concern, it is understood they stretch beyond the social media missives from teammates Jarome Luai and Sunia Turuva last week that were interpreted as criticism of the teenage playmaker.

Richardson was not happy with the Turuva post in particular, but he bristled at suggestions of bullying at the Tigers.

Asked about the allegations, Richardson said: “They’re not true. I can’t comment about legal cases for obvious reasons but of course we’ll contest it.

“If you have ever played in a team, there are emotional things in a team. This is not your mate down the road, this is a football team that’s building itself together.

“I don’t think Luai’s (post) was too bad but certainly Turuva’s shouldn’t have happened and I have spoken to Turuva about it.

“But emotions happen. To try to control emotions, it’s impossible in rugby league.”

Richardson also defended the club’s culture given the current environment.

“Outstanding,” he said.

“We’ve come up from a club that’s won three wooden spoons. We were a laughing stock everywhere.

“We’ve come back from that to be competitive on the field. We’re certainly competitive off the field. We had 27,000 people at the game on the weekend. A gate of $1 million.

“So off the field we’ve got it right. We’ve got it right with the coaching staff. We spent a lot of money on leadership and a lot of money on health and safety with Tim Grant and people under him.

“So I’m more than confident with the processes that are in place.”

DEALING WITH MOSES

The Tigers have had a tempestuous relationship with leading manager Isaac Moses over the years and the Galvin saga is just the latest spotfire between the club and one of the most powerful figures in rugby league.

Moses manages some of the game’s biggest names, be it players or coaches. He has been accused at times of wielding too much influence and Richardson concedes his relationship with Moses has been strained in recent times.

Still, it’s better than the relationship between Moses and Marshall. The pair have seemingly been engaged in a private war that now threatens to potentially cost the Tigers their most promising player.

Asked about the relationship between Moses and the club, Richardson was blunt.

“It’s not good, obviously it’s not good,” he said.

“This year we’ve had challenges and they’ve all been with Isaac Moses’ clients. So it’s no secret. I’ve got to deal with Isaac, he’s got to deal with me.

“Benji deals with the player, I deal with the manager. So I deal with Isaac because Benji and Isaac have no relationship whatsoever – in fact, it’s antagonistic.

“What I’ve done is I’ve stepped in the middle. He’s (Moses) certainly made it clear to everybody … that Benji’s not on his Christmas list and I’m sure he’s not on Benji’s Christmas list.

“At the end of the day, I have had to deal with managers all my life. I’ve had some good ones, some shockers and some in between.

“Some I don’t deal with, some I do deal with. You can’t do this for 30 years without working with player managers. Isaac is smart, he is intelligent and he’s trying to do what is best for his clients.

“I get all that, but he’s not doing the best for Wests Tigers. My job’s what is best for the Wests Tigers. And what I’ve done is handle this the way I think is right – be honest and up-front.”

Richardson insisted he and Moses could continue to work together.

“Well he’s got clients with us,” he said.

“So we’ll all continue to work on it. Isaac and I go a long way back. I wasn’t happy the way he managed (Anthony) Seibold at Souths.

“And at the end of the day, my job is to make sure that the Wests Tigers are protected. And I believe what we did, I don’t believe it could be done any other way.

“It’s come out this week, we popped the pimple, we’ve moved on from it. I honestly believe that we couldn’t have done any better – we could have done without the social media, but everybody could do without social media.”

GALVIN’S FUTURE

Galvin is back in the team this week for the game against Cronulla but the question will linger how long the marriage can survive given the legal action that is unfolding in the background and the teenager’s seemingly tenuous relationship with senior leaders.

Richardson insists the Tigers are ready to dig in their heels and relationship with senior players can be assuaged.

The plan is for Galvin to see out the remainder of his deal until the end of 2026 as rival clubs hover overhead.

“It’s not changed,” Richardson said.

“He’s never requested (a release). The bottom line from the club’s point of view, is he is here for the next 18 months. Football players are all about winning games.

“I don’t care who you are, where you are, they want to win the game. Now last week they didn’t feel like they could win a game, or the coach didn’t think they could win (with Galvin in the team).

“This week they feel they can. From my point of view, I don’t think that’s a concern.

The other elephant in the room is the relationship between Marshall and Galvin. When Galvin said he wanted to leave the club in the best interests of his development it was taken as a shot at Marshall and his coaching ability.

“The stuff about Benji and all the rest of it, he has never once said to us, not one time has he said to us, that Benji’s not a good coach or can’t coach,” Richardson said.

“What he said to us is he wants to be the best player I can be, and I believe that I can be that at another club.

“He’s never said (Marshall can’t coach). Lachlan is a very honest kid. He’s as simple as it gets. He loves his footy. If he were sitting here with you, he would be twirling the ball.

“He just loves his footy. He’s always had this thing in the back of his mind that he could obviously get a better opportunity elsewhere.

“The bottom line is though from that point of view, Lachlan has never said that in any way, shape or form (that Marshall can’t coach).”

THE COACH

Marshall is in his second year at the helm of the Tigers and the signs have been promising. The club made a fast start to the season but the Galvin saga has threatened to undo some of that good work.

The Tigers had some tough calls go against them last weekend, but they capitulated late against Parramatta and the Sharks will be an even tougher proposition this week.

Even so, Marshall has walked away from recent events with his reputation enhanced. He was widely praised for the way he handled his press conference last week in the wake of the Galvin revelations and his decision to recall the teenager shows how important the Sharks game is.

“He’s learning so much,” Richardson said.

“I’ve said it before and people underestimate it, but he’s incredibly smart. He picks up salary caps, financial things, just like that.

“He’s just all over it and he’s always well prepared. His challenge has always been management – managing players and managing people.

“He’s got so much better. The other thing that needs to be understood is he’s had to manage very difficult circumstances.

“We had a roster that was full of young kids who weren’t ready to play first grade, and players that weren’t up to the standard that was required to play first grade.

“Now we’ve had to make tough decisions last year about them moving on and in every case we’ve gone to the manager and told them early what we wanted to do.

“He’s had to manage situations like the (John) Bateman situation. For a young coach in his first year, he’s not stepping into South Sydney, he’s stepping in the world of hurt.

“Management of people is what it’s all about. Is he good at managing people? He’s better than most, but he can be better and he learns all the time, he listens.

“Do I think he’s going to be a good coach? Yes, I do. Because he listens. He’s got some good people around him that give good advice.

“My opinion on Benji is he is a work in progress … but at the bottom of it all, he cares about Wests Tigers.

“There’s been a lot of people over a period of time who didn’t care about the Wests Tigers. We want to build that and we need team leaders speaking their mind and we need coaches leading.”

WHAT NEXT

The Galvin saga is far from over. While the legal action continues to linger and speculation remains over Galvin’s future, the Tigers will be compulsory viewing.

Richardson insists that the Tigers can make it work.

“It can’t work if the kid himself doesn’t want to play,” Richardson said.

“I can tell you the worst thing you could do to Lachlan Galvin is tell him he can’t play football on the weekend. If he didn’t play reserve grade (last weekend), he’d be bashing his brothers in the backyard.

“He just can’t help himself. He is the fittest player in the club. He is the first here and the last to leave. He does all the extras.

“He’s into everything, running around the place. All he wants to do is play footy and all his parents want him to do is play footy. They made a decision that they think he’s best away from the club.

“That’s their decision. I don’t agree with it but that’s a decision. We’ll find out over the next 4-6 weeks where he’s at and how he’s fitted in from his performances on the field.

“But I’m not willing to draw a line through him at the moment. We’re out there to win every game possible. This is a very open competition.

“There’s probably two sides, maybe three that standout. The rest of us are all in the crocodile roll as I like to say. So why would I get rid of a generational player who wants to play.

“Even if a request came for him, it’s our decision whether we let him go or not.”

If there is a positive outcome of Galvin’s decision, it is that the Tigers can now start planning for the future with some certainty.

Late Fainu would likely have looked to leave had Galvin stayed. Now he shapes as his likely replacement in the halves.

The Galvin deal would also have put pressure on the Tigers’ salary cap but they now have money to spend and an appetite to spend it.

“He (Galvin) knows as well as we know that he hasn’t achieved anything yet,” Richardson said.

“Having said that, I think he’s an outstanding footballer. I think he will go on to play for Australia. It’s a huge loss for us in the sense of losing a junior.

“What we’ve done in the past is when we’ve lost juniors, we’ve moped around and whinged and wined and jumped up and down.

“What it has done and I will say this, it has allowed us time to be able to sit down with players that we’re going to be affected by us re-signing him.

“When you make a decision to offer a player $1 million going forward, you’ve got to make adjustments in your cap. They weren’t decisions we necessarily wanted to make.

“Now we can make decisions about what the roster looks like, what we need to buy, what we need to get. We’re in the marketplace now for that.

“Yeah, it is emotional … but from our club’s point of view we picked the best team possible this week. From our point of view, he is here for the next 18 months.

“From our point of view, we’ve never been bullies here. And the club is right behind Benji.”