Ben Ikin compares Lachlan Galvin to a young Darren Lockyer

A former Queensland Origin prodigy has backed Lachlan Galvin’s decision to quit the Wests Tigers, predicting the boom playmaker will follow in the mould of rugby league great Darren Lockyer.

A former Queensland Origin prodigy has backed Lachlan Galvin’s decision to quit the Wests Tigers, predicting the boom playmaker will become the NRL’s next Darren Lockyer.

That assessment from ex-Maroons whiz-kid Ben Ikin came as former Broncos coach Kevin Walters unloaded on Jarome Luai and senior Tigers players, accusing the group of bullying Galvin.

Walters believes the Galvin spat is untenable and urged the 19-year-old to seek an immediate release.

“It’s bullying, 100 per cent,” Walters fired. “I don’t think he can stay.”

If anyone can relate to Galvin’s situation, it is Ikin, still to this day the youngest player in Origin history who made his Maroons debut at 18 years and 82 days as part of Paul Vautin’s ‘Neville Nobodies’ in 1995.

Ben Ikin says he can see similarities between Lachlan Galvin and Darren Lockyer. Picture: Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images

By season’s end, Ikin had made the call to quit the Gold Coast as a teenager and move to Sydney, where he chased a fresh start with North Sydney as a 19-year-old in 1996.

Fast forward three decades and Ikin says not only is Galvin more talented than himself, but embroiled in a far greater firestorm.

While Galvin has come under fire for abandoning the Wests Tigers club that gave him his big break, Ikin believes the Australian Schoolboys captain has the mental toughness to overcome the saga and reach greatness in the code.

Ikin, now the Queensland Rugby League chief executive, is adamant Galvin will mature into a similar playmaker to Lockyer, the champion former Broncos, Queensland and Australian captain.

“He is a tremendous player. He will have a long successful career,” Ikin said.

“I like big five-eighths with the capacity to play a bit of footy and run the ball.

“He has a good sense for space, he can think well in the moment and in time, he will be a great game manager, he will learn how to play the long game.

“I see him becoming a five-eighth in the mould of Darren Lockyer.

“‘Locky’ was a brilliant ball runner at fullback and still had his running game early on in his career at five-eighth, but over time he became a game manager and played the role you expect of a halfback.

“Lachy is only young, but he has got all the tools and over time, if given the opportunity, he can run a team like Lockyer.”

Walters can also empathise with the Galvin saga.

In March of 2021, Walters was in his first season as Broncos coach when another NRL phenom, 18-year-old Reece Walsh, dropped a Galvin-style bombshell by quitting the club and signing with the Warriors.

Walsh believed he was ready to play first grade and, at the time, the Broncos didn’t have a vacancy on their full-time roster to promote the young gun to their NRL squad.

Walsh eventually returned to Brisbane two years ago for family reasons, but Walters has been left stunned by the treatment of Galvin by leading Tigers players, who urged coach Benji Marshall to drop him.

“How would Wests Tigers management be feeling … they would be filthy,” Walters said on the Inside Ball podcast.

“They were just starting to gain respect, but they are being pulled apart by this.

“If I was Lachie Galvin, I would be saying, ‘Get me out of here now’ because these senior blokes don’t want me here.”

The former Queensland and Test five-eighth was equally bemused by claims Galvin wanted out of the Tigers because of a lack of faith in the coaching of Marshall.

Galvin has a big decision to make. Picture: Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images

“I reckon that is absolute bull***,” Walters fired.

“Benji knows the game backwards, as a five-eighth and halfback, as a leader, as being the star player himself.

“Go back and watch him as a 17-year-old kid playing NRL.

“I don’t accept it – that’s what really annoys me.

“The senior playing group are there to voice their opinions as a group, but it’s just their opinion. It doesn’t mean the coach (takes on their advice).

“I wouldn’t have dropped him, no, because Benji’s job is on the line.

“If they lose, it won’t be the players under pressure, if they keep losing who loses his job … Benji Marshall.

“He is in a tough position.”

Ikin played 87 games in his four-year stint at the Bears, scoring 15 tries in his first season at the club in 1996, before returning home to win a premiership at the Broncos in 2000.

He says Galvin, who has played 27 NRL games, could benefit from a change of environment.

“There was an uncertainty around the future of the Gold Coast franchise, that was a big factor for me, so maybe there is a parallel there with Galvin,” Ikin said.

“Like Galvin, the crossover could be that I wanted to get myself into a system that was going to get me out of my comfort zone and make me a better player.

Ben Ikin during Origin training in 1995.

“At that stage, there were concerns the Gold Coast were going to fold, which ended up happening, so there were a few reasons in my life why I wanted to get away from the Gold Coast and get into another club.

“I had lost my way a bit by the end of that (1995) season. I had too much come too quick.

“Lachlan Galvin is a huge prospect. His story has gotten so big and there are so many different news items on the reasons behind his decision.

“Whether you agree or disagree, every single situation is different and ultimately you have to make the decision in the best of interests of you and your family, always, like everyone does in every industry professionally.”

Originally published as Ben Ikin compares Lachlan Galvin to a young Darren Lockyer