NRL pre-season watch: Jarome Luai makes stunning admission about Lachlan Galvin’s fitness levels

Penrith’s fitness levels have become the stuff of legend among rugby league circles, but Wests Tigers recruit Jarome Luai has never seen anyone like new halves partner Lachlan Galvin.

The summer of Test cricket is over, which means the NRL is just around the corner.

And that includes every single player, rookies and veterans alike, looking to impress their coach in the lead-up to pre-season trial games in mid-February.

TIGERS

Speaking of young halves, Tigers rookie Lachlan Galvin returned to Concord with a new look - but it wasn’t his goatee that impressed his superstar new teammate.

Perhaps eager to ditch his schoolboy looks, Galvin rocked up with an unmissable facial and moustache that belied his age of 19 years.

Lachlan Galvin sporting a new pre-season look. Picture: Wests Tigers

If anything, it adds an inch or two to his chin, which could be a good omen as he prepares to line up alongside four-time premiership-winning ex-Panthers star Jarome Luai.

Coming from four-time premiers Penrith, Luai made a stunning admission about the young five-eighth.

“He’s the fittest guy I have seen bro,” Luai said at Wests Tigers training.

“His test results, his times and the energy he has out there on the field is crazy, so that excites me as a bit of an older player now.

“He gives me energy out there as well, which is pretty cool to feel from a younger guy because I think I am used to being that younger guy, but it’s cool to feel from somebody else.”

But Luai has been just as impressed by Galvin’s footballing nous.

Jerome Luai has been impressed by Lachie Galvin. Picture: Richard Dobson

“I definitely understand why that (hype) was happening last year and that’s just at the back of how he trains and how he works,” Luai said.

“He’s everywhere on the field and that doesn’t faze him because he’s so fit, so that’s cool to play alongside but we’ve got a lot of sessions to do and a lot of games to play together so we’ve got a lot of work to do.”

Still in Tigerland and new recruit Terrell May could also be making a statement with his Lethal Weapon inspired hair cut - though he won’t part ways with his rat’s tail.

COWBOYS

Cowboys superstar Tom Dearden is widely viewed as the fittest player in the NRL, but he’s not even the fittest at his own club this pre-season.

Rookie teenager Zac Herdegen, who also plays in the halves, notched a club record 4:25-minute time in the 1.2km shuttle run, beating Dearden by a second.

In Dearden’s defence, it was his first day back in pre-season and the competitive Kangaroos representative has already vowed to put the rookie in his place and reclaim the record.

Herdegen, a Queensland Schoolboys halfback, was in the Dolphins set-up last year and was linked with a move to the Newcastle Knights before getting a development deal in Townsville.

Jake Clifford finished last season wearing the no.7, however coach Todd Payten has some options in Tom Duffy, Jaxon Purdue and now possibly 19-year-old Herdegen.

RABBITOHS

Could Josh Schuster be a smokey to be in the Rabbitohs’ line-up for Round 1?

It would be a remarkable turnaround for the former Manly star, who hasn’t played a game of rugby league since the last of four reserve grade games for the Sea Eagles last year.

In fact, the 23-year-old’s last NRL game was in Rd 25 in 2023.

But, now in fresh cardinal and myrtle and under the guise of supercoach Wayne Bennett, Schuster is right in the thick of pre-season training and looking to bounce back this season.