Stephen Crichton reveals Bulldogs meeting with Lachlan Galvin to question young star’s motivations

Stephen Crichton admits he didn’t like the fallout surrounding Lachlan Galvin and the Wests Tigers. It’s why the Bulldogs captain and his players held a meeting to quiz the young star on his reasons for joining the club.

Blues behemoth Stephen Crichton revealed he questioned Lachlan Galvin’s motivation for quitting Wests Tigers as the young star joined the high-flying Bulldogs.

Crichton admitted he didn’t like the fallout surrounding Galvin’s Tigers’ exit but said he had “landed at the best club” to further his rugby league career.

Galvin made an impressive debut for Canterbury against Parramatta off the bench last weekend and will start at five-eighth for Sunday’s game against South Sydney.

Crichton opened up about the meeting where Galvin was quizzed about his reasons for joining Canterbury.

“We just wanted to learn the honest truth about everything,” Crichton said from Blues camp yesterday.

“It’s something we do every week as players, we get a few boys up and we get to learn about them a bit more.

Stephen Crichton gave Lachlan Galvin an interrogation on his motivations when he joined the Bulldogs. Picture: Darrian Traynor/Getty Images

“That kind of question popped up (for Galvin), a lot of the boys ask those questions like ‘what’s your motivation? What drives you?’ It wasn’t about money (but more) about being a better person and to be a better footy player as well. That was his answer that came out.

“One-hundred per cent, you’ve got to know every player’s motivation, but you kind of see that in his actions. You see it in the players’ actions throughout the week, when we’re watching video, if he’s still on the field kicking.

“There’s probably a few things that I’ve seen in him straight away; always first in, doing his video, last one on the field, practising his kicks, different types of kicks.

Lachlan Galvin has impressed Crichton at Bulldogs trainings. Picture: Tim Hunter.

“I feel like he’s landed at the best club for that. Ever since coming, he’s just learned so much in the space of five days before that game.

“He got his opportunity on the weekend and I was that happy to see him shine and see him smiling too, especially after a stressful week, coming to a new club and a lot of noise around it too. I feel like he handled it really well.

“Everyone knows what he can do with the ball, but coming to the Dogs, a defensive mindset comes first. He’s come in, he’s shown a lot with the ball, but there’s a lot of learnings there that he can take in defensively. That’s something that we pride ourselves on, our defence more than our attack.”

Crichton was aware of speculation Galvin had fallen out at Wests Tigers with star player Jarome Luai, a former teammate of Crichton at Penrith.

“I don’t really like it either, but I feel like you don’t know someone unless you actually meet them,” Crichton said.

Lachlan Galvin and Jarome Luai’s relationship came under the spotlight amid his Tigers exit. Picture: NRL Photos

“You can have an opinion about someone, but unless you go up there and speak to them, you never know how that person is. That’s probably what I got, from Lachy, because I never really met him until he got to the club.

“He loves his footy, comes from a loving family, and the connection between the boys and him is probably the most vital thing.”

And despite being picked at No.6 for this weekend’s game, Crichton feels Galvin is a halfback.

“He’s played halfback his whole life and the way that he’s been playing at the Tigers, he’s mad with the ball,” Crichton said.

“Regardless of where he plays, we were called last year a bunch of utilities, and we’ve got another one too.

“We’ve learned that over the past few years, regardless if you’re in the team or not, it’s always team first, and we’ve got a good balance of that at the moment.”