KIERSTEN DUKE: The Lachlan Galvin-Wests Tigers NRL saga provides more questions than answers

There are a lot of unknowns in the Lachlan Galvin drama but one thing that is clear is the 19-year-old appears to be in way over his head and is being used as pawn in a silly game between his manager and the club.

Galvin as one of the emerging talents of the NRL is entitled to seek the best deal at the best club that suits his style of play, but dropping a bombshell like this barely two months into the season with the Tigers looking on the up was never going to end well.

The other unwitting victim of this mess is coach Benji Marshall who has been quick to praise Galvin even after the teen’s statement on why he was leaving had a few veiled swipes at Marshall’s coaching ability.

When this news first broke I nearly fell over. My immediate reaction was to laugh in disbelief. The ego of a rugby league player knows no bounds is what I initially thought. Imagine having the audacity at 19 years old to knock back a $5 million cheque.

When I was 19, I was selling my barely working, rusty little car in England to scrape together enough money for a plane ticket to Australia. I wouldn’t have minded even a tenth of that paycheck. To be honest, even now, nearly 10 years on I still wouldn’t mind it.

But, as we all know, you can’t believe what’s first reported when big stories like this land. In the words of my wise mother, there’s always more than what meets the eye.

And as expected, the more the narrative has unfolded, the more I’ve taken a step back and started to sympathise with the position this kid has been put in.

Because that’s what he is after all, a teenager. Think about what you were doing as a 19-year- old, I’m sure it wasn’t scurrying into your family home to hide from the press.

It’s not just Galvin that I feel empathy for. I feel it for the West Tigers team and fans as it’s not like the fans haven’t been through enough in recent time for goodness sake.

Finally, this was a year they thought they would enjoy success only for all this unnecessary drama to occur.

And those who say this drama doesn’t affect the rest of the team need to remove themselves kindly from la la land. Of course decisions like these effect those close to you. Galvin’s teammate Sunia Turuva’s private Instagram story joking about Galvin’s supposed greed did not go down well.

Whether it was a joke or a barb I am not sure, but it was a photo of Lachlan’s locker with the song “Here Comes the Money” in the background. Make of that what you will.

And how about poor old Marshall. The team was showing the greenhoods of success after three wooden spoons on the back of signing several marquee players only to have one of the lynchpins of the team say he wants to leave because he doesn’t enjoy his coaching.

Go bloody figure. To take a stand Marshall sent Galvin to play NSW Cup grade for a week but has been forced to bring him back after a woeful loss to the Eels.

It’s ballsy to turn around to your coach as a youngster and criticise him. In fact, I’d go as far as saying it’s downright rude. So fair enough that Benji made a point of sending him down a grade. If you play silly games, you win silly prizes Lachlan.

I think there’s an awful lot going on behind the scenes and I strongly believe some heavily influential people have a made monumental, ill-fated contribution to the way this saga has played out.

So Lachlan, be careful of the company you keep as they may not always have your best interest at heart all the time.