Galvin booed as Tigers reignite season with victory over Bulldogs

Wests Tigers have rekindled their NRL season with a 22-16 win over rivals Canterbury in which Bulldogs playmaker Lachlan Galvin was relentlessly booed and jeered by supporters of his old club.

Nearly a year has passed since Galvin walked out on Benji Marshall’s side to move to Belmore, but the pain of his acrimonious exit has clearly not subsided for Tigers fans.

Galvin was booed with every touch from start to finish at CommBank Stadium on Saturday and received the biggest jeers from the 17,505 crowd when Jarome Luai sidestepped and later belted the Bulldogs’ halfback.

“I don’t know if he notices, but it’s what’s going to make him a very good player down the track is that he deals with this stuff all the time,” Ciraldo said.

“He deals with people talking about him all the time, people booing him. I get it, it’s footy, but he’ll be a better player for it.

“Everything’s tribal, we love our clubs, we love our teams, we love our players, and that stuff comes out – it’ll die off eventually.”

The 20-year-old moved to Canterbury because he felt he wouldn’t improve under Marshall’s coaching, but since his arrival the Bulldogs’ results have gone backwards.

The Dogs have won just 38 per cent of their games since Galvin’s arrival last season and are 4-8 in 2026, boasting just one win in their last six after losing to the Tigers.

“You have to ask the fans [if it’s time to move on], you can’t tell them how to feel,” said Marshall.

“It’s not up to me but they [the fans] never forget, that’s the problem.”

Marshall’s men, meanwhile, snapped a three-game losing run, racing out to a 16-6 half-time lead before holding off a second-half Canterbury fightback.

Buoyed by the return of hooker Api Koroisau and classy fullback Jahream Bula, the Tigers flung the ball to the left and winger Jeral Skelton crossed after four minutes.

Right winger Faaletino Tavana was next to go over for the Tigers when he claimed a Jock Madden bomb and touched down.

Bula then slid over off a Kai Pearce-Paul offload before the Bulldogs got their act together as half-time approached.

Jacob Kiraz weaved his way through the Tigers defence to get Cameron Ciraldo’s side on the board in the 37th minute before Bula got across to prevent Dogs captain Stephen Crichton from grounding the ball.

Canterbury dominated possession in the early stages of the second half and after Galvin hoofed a grubber kick dead, winger Enari Tuala move the Bulldogs to within six points.

But the match’s biggest turning point came with 25 minutes to go when Josh Curran looked to have given Canterbury the chance to draw