It has been some week for the Wests Tigers after the circus surrounding Lachlan Galvin. Can they put it to one side and knock off Parramatta this afternoon? Follow along live.
It has been some week for the Wests Tigers after the circus surrounding Lachlan Galvin. Can they put it to one side and knock off Parramatta this afternoon? Follow along live.
It’s taken 10 minutes for either team to barge their way into their opponent’s 20-metre area.
Parramatta manage it briefly but let the Tigers off the hook by conceding a penalty.
Mitchell Moses got his hands on the ball eight times in the first 10 minutes. He’s managing to keep busy.
Bang. He’s just kicked a wonderful 40-20. Just what his team needed.
Eels lead 2-0 after 13 minutes
If you want proof the NRL crackdown on contact to the head is officially dead, go back and watch the opening tackle on Wests Tigers’ prop Terrell May.
Kelma Tuilagi belts May in the head with his left shoulder. He was eventually placed on report, but no penalty, and no sin-bin.
That was a clear ten-minute timeout if I have ever seen one.
Parramatta get a penalty early doors after a Tigers high shot.
Junior Paulo cops one on the chin as Sean Russell knocks over two points to get the Eels on the board.
Meanwhile, Kelma Tuilagi is put on report for a high shot that was missed on the field a few minutes earlier.
Eels lead 2-0 after four minutes
Buckle up.
This’ll be a beauty.
The Tigers take the first set in front of a bumper crowd at CommBank Stadium.
There were no boos from the crowd and a group of Wests Tigers staff made sure they surrounded their man as he came from the field to be greeted by a big media scrum at Lidcombe Oval on Monday.
About 500 people turned up to witness the latest chapter in the stand-off between Lachie Galvin and the Tigers.
Rather than join his Tigers teammates up the road at CommBank Stadium for the big Easter Monday NRL clash against the Eels in front of 30,000 fans, Galvin was dropped to the NSW Cup and named to play for Wests Magpies against Parramatta.
Galvin set up a try, and should have had a second try assist, only for Solomona Faataape to spill the ball over the try line, but the controversial Tigers half found it difficult to get involved with such little possession and decent field position in the 22-10 loss to the Eels.
It’s a big game for Mitchell Moses.
The Eels halfback hasn’t played an NRL match in 292 days. His last game was against Souths in round 18 last year before a foot injury rubbed him out for the rest of the season.
Moses was a surprise inclusion in the Eels’ side this week given his careful comeback from another foot injury. It’ll be interesting to see how fit he is.
If Moses has a solid game, debate for the NSW No.6 jersey will heat up.
Dan Walsh cast his eye over the candidates to partner Nathan Cleary in the halves for this year’s State of Origin series.
Moses would love a few early touches … and he might be the key to unlocking Dylan Brown, whose form has been mediocre since news broke of his lucrative deal with the Knights.
If you missed the drama at Tiger Town last week, this great piece from Michael Chammas has you covered.
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It was always going to be difficult for a 19-year-old to stand before his teammates and articulate why a $6 million, five-year deal and the 30-odd people in the room weren’t enough to convince him to stay at the club that had handed him his NRL debut.
Galvin’s efforts went down as well as you might imagine, especially when his version of “I don’t want to be a distraction” came out as “you do you and I will do me”. Some in the room described it as “a train wreck”.
When, on the request of coach Benji Marshall, Galvin had finished talking, Marshall walked to the front to have his say.
He said the team should not begrudge a player the right to provide for himself and his family as most of the people in the room – including Marshall – had done at various stages in their life.
“It’s not about that”, one of the players said quietly enough that not everyone heard but loudly enough for those around him to giggle.
An Instagram post by Sunia Turuva – picture of Galvin’s Concord locker with a track about money playing in the background – was meant to be an in-joke between the players. It is not an accurate representation of how the players feel about the situation.
Here are the teams for today’s match.
Tigers (1–13): Jahream Bula, Sunia Turuva, Brent Naden, Starford To’a, Luke Laulilii, Jarome Luai, Adam Doueihi, Terrell May, Apisai Koroisau, Fonua Pole, Samuela Fainu, Alex Seyfarth, Alex Twal.
Bench: Tallyn Da Silva, Jack Bird, Sione Fainu, Tony Sukkar.
Reserve: Heath Mason.
Tigers ins: Brent Naden, Luke Laulilii, Tony Sukkar.
Tigers outs: Jeral Skelton, Lachlan Galvin, Royce Hunt.
Eels (1–13): Isaiah Iongi, Josh Addo-Carr, Will Penisini, Sean Russell, Bailey Simonsson, Dylan Brown, Mitchell Moses, Jack Williams, Ryley Smith, Junior Paulo, Kelma Tuilagi, Kitione Kautoga, J’maine Hopgood.
Bench: Dylan Walker, Luca Moretti, Matt Doorey, Sam Tuivati.
Reserve: Joash Papalii.
Eels ins: Jack Williams, Joash Papalii, Kelma Tuilagi, Matt Doorey, Mitchell Moses, Sam Tuivati
Eels outs: Charlie Guymer, Dan Keir, Dean Hawkins, Joe Ofahengaue, Ryan Matterson, Shaun Lane.
Benji Marshall versus Isaac Moses is currently one of the biggest feuds in rugby league, but the reason they have fallen out has remained a secret – until now.
Marshall, through his brilliant media performance on Thursday, is winning the public relations battle. The problem is Moses doesn’t care about that, and Marshall is likely to lose the Lachlan Galvin war. It appears it is now up to Marshall and CEO Shane Richardson as to how many people are wounded or killed off, from a professional standpoint, in the process. At the core of it all is the Marshall-Moses feud.
Neither side is volunteering the source of the dispute. Marshall’s people say it may be because of the coach’s need to stand up to Moses, and more recently because of the nature of the John Bateman and David Klemmer exits from the Tigers. Both of those men are Moses clients.
But it’s deeper than that. My sources say it stems back to a secret meeting between Marshall, Mitchell Moses, Tim Sheens and Isaac Moses in early 2023.
That meeting was held when Mitchell Moses was negotiating his contract and exploring the idea of a return to the Tigers. At the meeting, Isaac Moses believed Benji’s body language and attitude towards Sheens was disrespectful.
It was not raised at the meeting. Instead, Moses let him know as much via a phone call the next day, and Marshall told him what he thought of that viewpoint in a direct way. The pair have been off each other since.
READ DANNY WEIDLER’S COLUMN FROM THE WEEKEND HERE
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