Lachlan Galvin opens up on Wests Tigers future, Jarome Luai partnership, new tattoos
Lachlan Galvin has a new look, new ink and a new halves partner for the 2025 season. Is it the signs of new beginnings at the Wests Tigers? Hear from the teen star on his Tigers future, Jarome Luai and more.
The responses are in: The NRL’s hottest rookie just got a lot hotter.
“Honestly, I woke up one more morning and I was in the shower and said, ‘I’m going to keep it’. I’m not going to shave it off,” a new-look Lachlan Galvin says of his goatee.
“I’m still trying to find my best look for myself. I thought I’ll give it a trial for the start of this year. But the boys love it. They think I’m hot now. So I’ll take that.”
But the five o’clock shadow isn’t the only thing noticeably different about the Wests Tigers’ boy wonder.
Ahead of his second season in the big league, Matt Encarnacion sits down with Galvin to talk about Jarome Luai, his long-term future, and another new addition to his body.
THE TATTOOS
Goatees aren’t permanent, but the new ink on his right arm is.
And Galvin isn’t shy about revealing the extra motivation he’s literally wearing as he attempts to build on one of the more impressive rookie campaigns in recent memory.
The first is a pact with Westfield Sports High teammates Sosefa Finau, a back-rower who is in the Bulldogs system, and Jeremiah Leatigaga, a lock who’s with Galvin at the Tigers.
The tattoo reads: Make it happen.
“We’ve grown up since we were 13 together and they’re everything to me, my best mates. They’ve been my rock, at school, coming up,” Galvin said.
“We’ve always wanted to play NRL together, so we always had this quote, ‘You gotta make it happen’. No one else can do it for you. You’ve got to do it yourself.”
All three teenagers were part of Westfield Sports High’s triumphant National Schoolboys Cup title-winning team in 2023.
The other fresh ink on Galvin is the initials: I.N.F.E.
It stands for, ‘It’s not for everyone’.
It is dedicated to his old school coach Luke Vella, whose own rugby league career was cut short by a shoulder injury that tore three nerves down the left side of his body.
Vella is now an NRL assistant coach to Cameron Ciraldo at the Bulldogs.
“He’s one of the main reasons why I’m playing NRL at the moment,” Galvin said.
“He was massive for me and I owe him everything. I thought I’ll get a bit of a tattoo reminding me of him on my arm because he done so much for me.
“It’s such a true quote. It’s really not for everyone. The hard work, the sacrifices you make. You’ve got to work hard to get to this point.”
THE NEW PARTNER
Some time over the next fortnight, Galvin will tee off against star signing and new halves partner Jarome Luai to decide who is the better golfer.
“He’s a bit scared I’ll beat him. He thinks he’s a good golfer but I’ll bring up his surfing skills,” Galvin laughs.
Luai has arrived with all the fanfare of a rugby league saviour, having not cut his hair since the first Penrith’s four straight premierships in 2021.
Galvin has played 21 games and has only just discovered facial hair.
But the club and its long-suffering fanbase are banking on the pair fast-tracking their chemistry as a halves pairing to end a run of three straight wooden spoons.
“He is a superstar. I’m a bit of a shy kid. So I didn’t really want to make the first move,” Galvin said.
“It was a bit surreal seeing him for the first time, meeting him and that. He think he’s funny, he tries to take the piss out of me so I try and give it back to him.”
Galvin says the most important part of building on-field rapport is off it.
“If you can talk and go up to him and pretty much say anything, and he can come up to me and say anything, on the field, you’ll get each other,” he said.
“We’re training every day and building combinations, but off the field is the most important thing. Really getting to know each other, going out.
“We’ve built that in the new year and a couple of weeks last year. But off the field it’s been good. He’s really tried to compliment me and come up to me.”
THE FUTURE
Luai has started the first of a mammoth five-year deal worth $6 million, albeit with a clause that opens the door for him to leave after two seasons.
Galvin is on a rookie deal that currently ends in November.
And the 19-year-old is in no rush to extend, which is a stance that, should the Tigers climb off the canvas this year, will result in a healthy pay increase.
“I’m a bit different. I don’t really want it to happen at the moment,” Galvin said.
“I just want to play this year out, play my best footy. I know with the team we’ve got now, I know we can go really well and I don’t want that interrupting (anything).
“When it happens, it happens. I’ll talk to my manager and parents about it, and they can talk to the club about it. I really want to stay out of that.
“When I play my best footy, I don’t want to have distractions or excuses this year because it is me second year. There’s all that second year syndrome. I don’t want any of that.”
All signs point to a long career ahead for Galvin, particularly after getting a taste of representative football with the Prime Minister’s XIII in Papua New Guinea late last year.
It was the second year in a row Galvin had visited the pacific nation, who will soon be attempting to lure players over when they enter the competition in 2028.
Asked whether he could see himself calling PNG home any time soon, Galvin said: “I don’t know, to be honest. We’ll have to wait and see.
“They love their rugby league over there. I was only fresh this year into the NRL and we went over there and they all knew who I was. They must watch and study the game.
And they were good competition, who we (played against). They were strong as, those boys. They’re going to be a force in the future when they’re in the NRL.”
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