{"id":451473,"date":"2026-05-29T17:41:17","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T17:41:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/451473\/"},"modified":"2026-05-29T17:41:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T17:41:17","slug":"benji-marshall-comments-on-galvins-form-days-out-of-bulldogs-clash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/451473\/","title":{"rendered":"Benji Marshall comments on Galvin’s form days out of Bulldogs clash"},"content":{"rendered":"

Benji Marshall<\/a> has thrown his support behind Lachlan Galvin<\/a> ahead of the Wests Tigers<\/a> clash against the Canterbury Bulldogs<\/a>, insisting the young playmaker has been unfairly criticised despite strong form at his new club.<\/p>\n

Galvin has remained under the microscope since his less-than-favourable departure from the Tigers to join the Bulldogs, with some critics questioning whether his arrival has disrupted Canterbury’s momentum.<\/p>\n

The Bulldogs were premiership favourites in 2025 before dropping out of the race, with some pointing to the reshuffle caused by Galvin’s injection into the side as a reason behind the dip in form and loss of players such as Toby Sexton<\/a> and Reed Mahoney<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Bulldogs coach Cameron Ciraldo<\/a> has repeatedly shut down those claims, and scrutiny around the club’s performances has continued to grow.<\/p>\n

Galvin’s former Tigers coach was quick to defend the 20-year-old on Friday, praising both his performances and his ability to handle the outside noise.<\/p>\n

“Galvin’s copped a bit of criticism,” Marshall said to the media on Thursday.<\/p>\n

“But he’s actually been going very well for [the Bulldogs].”<\/p>\n

Despite the criticism, Galvin’s individual numbers have remained strong.<\/p>\n

The halfback has averaged 119 run metres this season, while also recording six try assists, 12 line break assists and four tries.<\/p>\n

Marshall also reserved special praise for Jacob Kiraz<\/a>, who starred at fullback in last week’s upset win over the Melbourne Storm<\/a> while Connor Tracey<\/a> remained sidelined with a hamstring injury.<\/p>\n

Kiraz, who usually lines up on the wing, impressed in the No.1 jersey with six tackle breaks and 297 run metres.<\/p>\n

“Jacob Kiraz<\/a> has been very underrated,” Marshall said.<\/p>\n

The Tigers head into Saturday’s clash desperate to snap a three-game losing streak, though they have received a timely boost on the injury front following last week’s bye.<\/p>\n

Api Koroisau, Jahream Bula<\/a>, Alex Twal<\/a> and Haemasi Makasini have all been named to return as Marshall’s side looks to rediscover the defensive edge that fuelled their strong start to the season.<\/p>\n

“We started the season off with a real grit in our defence,” Marshall began.<\/p>\n

“Over the past three games, we’ve sort of let that defence intensity slide.”<\/p>\n

The Bulldogs and Tigers will face off on Saturday as both sides look to steady their seasons.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Benji Marshall has thrown his support behind Lachlan Galvin ahead of the Wests Tigers clash against the Canterbury…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":42998,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[111,139,69,213],"class_list":["post-451473","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451473","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=451473"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451473\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42998"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=451473"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=451473"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=451473"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}