My thoughts on the Galvin situation...
Firstly, he's contracted for two more years minimum. Richo doesn't strike me as someone to let a player walk early if they are still beneficial to the team. Projecting worst-case scenarios and then getting emotional over that is not healthy.
Personally, I think a win/win would be to get him to sign a ONE-YEAR extension plus adjusted pay for the next two years. Something like $550k + $550k + $700k in 2027. Overall this gives him an extra $1.2M over that time which would be more than if he stuck it out for two years ($250 +$350k) and signed somewhere else for 2027.
This would keep his options open for 2028 when he'll still only be 22 with his whole career ahead of him. Many players don't even start NRL until that age. This way, he doesn't 'lose out' financially but still has options to leave or extend on a pay increase when he has over a decade of playing still to go.
And if it turns out that Latu partners better with Luai then we are only paying $700k for a possible centre or lock/2nd row for one year.
Before we freak out about price, let's put the salary cap into context:
Storm halves for 2025: $1.1M + $900k = $2M
Storm spine for 2025: $1.1M + $900k + $950k + 850k = $3.8M
And that’s just what’s on the cap. Add to that a prop on $900k. So 5 players close to a million each.
Tigers halves for 2025: $1.2M + $250k = $1.45M
Tigers spine for 2025: $1.2M + $250k + $700k + 700k = $2.8M
Next highest paid player is a prop on $650k. That's a million-dollar difference. Even if we threw Galvin an extra few hundred K over the next two years, that still doesn't scuttle our salary cap.