Why Wests Tigers coach Benji Marshall holds five-eighth Lachlan Galvin’s future in his hands

If teenage prodigy Lachlan Galvin stays at the Wests Tigers, Benji Marshall should be celebrated by fans. But if Galvin goes, that’s also on the rookie coach, writes DAVID RICCIO.

Benji Marshall will be the difference between rising star Lachlan Galvin staying or leaving the Wests Tigers.

If the teenage prodigy stays, Marshall should be chaired across Leichhardt Oval and applauded for retaining one of the most promising players in the NRL.

But if Galvin goes, that’s on Marshall.

This isn’t a hit job on the fledgling coach.

It’s about understanding the club-defining influence of an NRL head coach, far beyond sweep plays and getting over the advantage line.

It’s the case for every coach in the NRL, as is the life that Roosters mentor Trent Robinson is living right now.

Cover this game long enough and speak to the game’s most high-profile players during their contract negotiations, you learn the importance of the decision that relates back to the head coach.

Flashy training facilities, good players around you and a bank balance that reflects your market worth, are obvious factors for any player making a major call on their future.

Holding most sway, is the coach.

Not a day goes by in the NRL that one of the 17 head coaches aren’t discussing recruitment, meeting with a prospective signing, a junior coming through the system or a player their attempting to retain.

Benji Marshall holds the biggest sway over Lachlan Galvin’s decision to stay at the club.

Will I develop under this coach? Does he create a culture and an environment I want to be a part of? Do I believe that we can achieve success under this coach?

Off-contract at the Wests Tigers at the end of next season, these are all the questions that Galvin will ask, if he decides to take himself to the open market on November 1, to peruse his options elsewhere for 2027.

For the same reason that Marshall holds the future of Galvin in his hands, Eels coach Jason Ryles began his first pre-season at the club late last year with one eye on the overall vision for Parramatta.

The other eye was on his roster, and most importantly Dylan Brown, whose get-out clause in his current contract, is causing all sorts of stress for the Eels.

Yet Ryles is a realist.

He hasn’t run from the fact that he has had roughly four months to show Brown why he should remain an Eel. It’s not a lot of time to work with.

Ryles hasn’t passed on the responsibility of wooing Brown to the club CEO or board.

He might be a rookie coach, but Ryles has been in the game long enough to know that as coach, selling the future of the footy team to Brown, is on him.

What has Ryles done? He re-signed Mitchell Moses to an extended deal.

It is as much about backing the club captain to maintain his elite standard, but also as a sign of stability to the 24-year-old Brown.

Players need to have utmost belief in their coach.

Ask yourself what the major lure for Stephen Crichton to leave the most dominant club of the modern-era in Penrith and join the Bulldogs was?

“I wouldn’t be the player I am without what he’s taught me,” Crichton said of Dogs head coach Cameron Ciraldo.

Raiders five-eighth Ethan Strange is the same age as Galvin.
This is what he said after re-signing with the Green Machine until the end of 2028.

“I’m loving the way my footy is going and the coaches trust in me,” Strange said.

“This place has become my home and I love it and all the boys here.”

Take Sharks captain Cameron McInnes for example and why recently he took only a 12-month extension to re-sign at the club instead of picking up a two or three-year deal at a rival club.

“I feel and all the boys feel the same that, as long as he’s (Craig Fitzgibbon) the coach here, the team is going to be pushing for that main goal every single year,” McInnes said last week.

Is it a coincidence that of all the clubs in the world, injured Rooster Brandon Smith is on the verge of signing a deal at the Rabbitohs, where coach Wayne Bennett has a proven track record of resurrecting the careers of banged-up players?

We can pretend that the Wests Tigers centre of excellence or CEO Shane Richardson will be the architect behind the negotiation of retaining Galvin.

The truth is, Marshall has all the power. We’re about to learn just how much.

Originally published as Why Wests Tigers coach Benji Marshall holds five-eighth Lachlan Galvin’s future in his hands