Wests Tigers winger Sunia Turuva admits he was wrong to mock Lachie Galvin in a social media post and says he patched things up with the 19-year-old before his former teammate joined Canterbury last week. Galvin signed a three-and-a-half year deal worth $7500,000 per season with the Bulldogs after being released early from his contract with the Tigers, having rejected the joint-venture’s $6 million extension.
The move to Canterbury ended weeks of drama surrounding Galvin and only came about after his management and the Bulldogs agreed to demands from the Tigers to sign a non-disparagement clause. It’s essentially a legal move that prevents Galvin from discussing his exit from the Tigers, following reports the 19-year-old was considering legal action against the club over accusations of bullying.
Central to those ugly claims were social media posts from Tigers stars Turuva and Jarome Luai that took aim at their former teammate. Luai shared a post that featured the words “team first” which was widely viewed as a dig at Galvin. While Turuva’s was less subtle and contained an image of Galvin’s locker with a music backing track titled, ‘Here Comes The Money’, suggesting the teenager was only motivated by money. It led to suggestions of a divide among the Tigers’ playing group.
Speaking about his post ahead of the Tigers’ round 14 match against his former side Penrith on Sunday, Turuva says he regrets his actions and admits he didn’t anticipate the storm it would create. “Looking back on it, I wouldn’t have done the post in the first place,” the winger said. I didn’t think of what he was going through at the time. I’m happy to see where he’s at now and happy for the club as well, we’re able to move on.”
The Tigers winger revealed that he held clear-the-air talks with Galvin to address the controversy before the 19-year-old departed for Canterbury as one of the NRL’s biggest mid-season trades in recent memory. “We did speak about it, just trying to say that the club is bigger, trying to move on,” Turuva said.
“For myself, I thought it was a joke, but looking back on it now, I’ve got to be a bigger person. Just seeing where he’s at now, I think it’s a really good spot for him. It’s a really good spot for the club as well. For us and for him, it’s just good to move on now. We’re able to leave it in our past.
Sunia Turuva ready to battle former Penrith teammates
Turuva won two premierships with the Panthers and comes up against his former teammates for the first time in Tigers colours on Sunday. And the winger says his Penrith opposite Brian To’o has already started the mind games by sledging him as soon as he came from the field after the Panthers’ 18-10 win over Parramatta last week.
“He’s been messaging me each day,” Turuva said about his former teammate. “(He’s) already trying to play mind games, trying to send photos from last year of me in the Panthers jersey. He’s trying to tell me not to forget where I came from.
“Yesterday, he said if they score on me he’s going to bring me into their celebration. Hopefully Jeral (Skelton, To’o’s opposite winger) can score on him and I can bring him into ours.”
