{"id":466693,"date":"2025-08-21T21:49:48","date_gmt":"2025-08-21T21:49:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=466693"},"modified":"2025-08-21T23:14:13","modified_gmt":"2025-08-21T23:14:13","slug":"not-top-five-brutal-galvin-snub-in-joeys-best-young-guns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=466693","title":{"rendered":"'Not top five': Brutal Galvin snub in Joey's best young guns"},"content":{"rendered":"

L\ufeffachlan Galvin<\/a>'s name has been spoken about more than almost any other NRL player this year for a myriad of reasons.<\/p>\n

But according to Andrew Johns<\/a>, the 20-year-old doesn't rank in the top five young stars in the game, such is the quality of those around the same age group.\ufeff<\/p>\n

Galvin has dominated headlines throughout the course of the season, with his exit from the Wests Tigers<\/a> – despite having a $1 million offer on the table – and subsequent move to the Bulldogs dividing opinion across the game.<\/p>\n

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The five-eighth has had some bright sparks in his early days at Canterbury, but the criticism has come thick and fast whenever the side has lost a game.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Galvin has registered 10 try assists in 19 games this year, but the Dogs have struggled for consistency with him steering the ship at halfback.<\/p>\n

As a result, during a debate on Nine's Freddy and The Eighth<\/em><\/a>, one of the greatest playmakers of all time admitted that as it stands, Galvin doesn't rank among the elite 21-years-and-under players in the competition.<\/p>\n

"I haven't got him in the top five," Johns said.<\/p>\n

I'm sure he will go to the top – but at the moment, on form, I haven't got him.<\/p>\n

"You know what though, [he is] mentally tough. He has been under all sorts of media pressure, but he turns up and gets his job done." \ufeff<\/p>\n

It's a bold call from Johns, especially given the fact one of the game's great minds in Phil Gould<\/a> has described Galvin as the best teenager he's ever seen. \ufeff<\/p>\n

\"Phil<\/p>\n

Brad Fittler<\/a> was full of praise for the way Galvin attacks the contest and wants the ball in his hands – even if it doesn't always go his way.<\/p>\n

\ufeff"Lachy is one of those players who is playing a pretty big role at a club and he did so at the Tigers," the Roosters legend said.<\/p>\n

"The thing I love about Lachy, he chases the ball and he's really competitive and constantly chasing the game. If he hasn't got the ball, he's chasing it – he's like a dog."<\/p>\n

Watch the 2025 NRL premiership live and free on Nine and<\/strong><\/em> 9Now<\/strong><\/em><\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Instead of having Galvin on his list, Johns ranked Dolphins halfback Isaiya Katoa<\/a>, Warriors forward Leka Halasima, Raiders star Ethan Strange, Roosters centre Robert Toia and Panthers speedster Casey McLean ahead in regards to young talent.<\/p>\n

The Knights and NSW Blues legend has been an outspoken admirer of Katoa's work since he came into first grade two years ago as a teenager.<\/p>\n

\"Isaiya<\/p>\n

The 21-year-old has since gone on to represent Tonga on the international stage and has also acted as Dolphins captain in the back half of this season.<\/p>\n

Johns believes the Penrith product could surpass everyone when it comes to the all-important No.7 jumper as his career progresses and believes he would be ready for State of Origin if called upon next year for the Blues.<\/p>\n

"He's ready to go now," Johns said.<\/p>\n

"He could without a doubt, but you've got Nathan [Cleary] and [Mitchell] Moses. I've got to say, he's probably number three in line, he's probably gone past Jarome (Luai) at this stage.<\/p>\n

"You don't want to burn him also, but he's ready to go.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Freddy<\/p>\n

"This bloke is number one [player 21 and under] by the length of the straight, at the moment. Where he gets to in the game, who knows?<\/p>\n

"As a halfback, he might go past everyone."<\/p>\n

Katoa has 20 try assists to his name this season – more than any other halfback in the competition – while also averaging 109 run metres per game. \ufeff<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

L\ufeffachlan Galvin's name has been spoken about more than almost any other NRL player this year for a myriad of reasons. But according to Andrew […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":463371,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466693"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=466693"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466693\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":466698,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466693\/revisions\/466698"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/463371"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=466693"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=466693"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=466693"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}