Wests Tigers 28, Canterbury 14
Wests Tigers coach Benji Marshall insisted “it was never about him” after his team’s 28-14 boilover victory against Lachlan Galvin’s Canterbury at CommBank Stadium on Sunday.
Galvin, the 20-year-old halfback, was playing against the Tigers for the first time since his much-publicised mid-season transfer to the Bulldogs.
He was booed by the vocal crowd every time he touched the ball and received a verbal spray from Tigers skipper Jarome Luai after conceding an early penalty.
Marshall said afterwards the issue had been overblown, and the Tigers’ only focus was on making sure they won the game against a high-flying opponent.
“All week, people made it about him, but for us it was never about him,” Marshall said.
“It’s about our club playing against the Bulldogs. They’re a top-four team and deservedly so, and are going to play semi-finals.
“So to put in that performance for us today was big for the whole club, and I thought our fans, given the season we’ve had, deserved that performance today.”
Luai replied “nah, I’m all good”, when asked about his post-match chat with Galvin, which appeared amicable.
The young tyro was also seen outside the dressing rooms long after the game, exchanging high-fives and hugs with his former Tigers teammates.
Asked about his heated exchange with Galvin early in the game, Luai replied: “That’s footy, bro. I’m a competitor, and it doesn’t really matter who’s on the other side.
“It’s brothers and opposition, so that’s how I see it.”
Bulldogs coach Cameron Ciraldo felt Galvin handled the occasion well.
“It’s not great conditions for a halfback when you’re behind a beaten forward pack,” Ciraldo said.
“So I thought he tried hard. But yeah, I don’t think any half’s going to do that well behind playing off half-a-second slower play-the-ball ... nothing much flusters him. I thought he went out there, he did his job today.
“I don’t think it rattled him that much. It’s just we got beaten as a team.”
Canterbury skipper Stephen Crichton was also impressed with how Galvin handled the pressure.
“I feel like he did pretty well,” Crichton said. “He knew what kind of hostile environment we were coming into. Obviously, when you play against your old team, they’re going to give it to you. And I felt like he played his game.”
Marshall nominated off-contract Tigers utility Adam Doueihi as his team’s best after producing one of the games of his career.
Doueihi scored a sensational runaway try and set up two others to give the Tigers a shock 20-4 half-time lead.
The 26-year-old is weighing up his options, and St George Illawarra coach Shane Flanagan confirmed on Saturday that negotiations had kicked off, telling 2GB’s Continuous Call team, “we’d love to have him”.
If the Tigers were to lose the local junior, who was part of the NSW Origin extended squad earlier in the season, it would presumably go down like a lead balloon with their long-suffering fans, given the recent mid-season departures of Galvin and Tallyn Da Silva.
On a wet and miserable day, the Tigers recovered from a disastrous start, in which prop Terrell May lost possession on the first tackle of the game, to post four tries before the half-time break.
The Bulldogs appeared to have all the momentum early, and could easily have scored two tries in the opening minutes, only for Crichton to be held up in-goal and Enari Tuala to be denied for a forward pass.
The Tigers made the most of their good fortune and drew first blood in the 14th minute, when Doueihi beat a couple of tackles and linked with fullback Jahream Bula, who sent winger Jeral Skelton over in the corner.
For good measure, Doueihi converted from the sideline.
Five minutes later, Doueihi made a break from deep in his territory, drew fullback Jacob Kiraz, and presented Bula with an unimpeded run to the line.
With the Bulldogs rattled, Tigers hooker Api Koroisau then grubber-kicked in behind their line and Skelton pounced on the ball to post his team’s third try.
Doueihi’s dream game continued in the 34th minute when he bolted 75 metres to score untouched after Bulldogs five-eighth Matt Burton fumbled in attack.
A Jacob Preston try three minutes before half-time at least gave the Bulldogs a glimmer of hope, but it was always going to be a big ask to run down a 16-point lead in teeming rain on a waterlogged pitch.
Twelve minutes into the second half, however, Kiraz scored, and suddenly the Dogs were back within 12 points.
The sin-binning of Alex Seyfarth in the 60th minute for a high tackle only added to the Tigers’ duress.
Crichton was lucky to escape 10 minutes in the naughty corner for a high shot on Taylan May in the 64th minute that led to him being placed on report.
Doueihi added two points from the ensuing penalty to edge the Tigers closer to their eighth victory of the year.
A try by back-rower Samuela Fainu, who speared through after a Luai short ball, clinched the result eight minutes from full-time.
Bulldogs forward Josh Curran scored a consolation try in the penultimate minute after winning the race to regain his charge down, despite a desperate effort from Doueihi to foil him.
The win lifted the Tigers three wins clear of Gold Coast, and they now appear certain to avoid a fourth straight wooden spoon.
The Bulldogs stay third, having been leapfrogged by Melbourne on Thursday night in the race for a top-two finish.