When Lachlan Galvin turned down the chance to join Parramatta last season, the decision was all the more painful for the club because they should never have let him leave in the first place.

The Eels tried to buy back the farm after deciding Galvin, who always dreamed of wearing the blue and gold, wasn’t up to it while in their junior pathways system.

“We didn’t leave because of other kids,” his father James once told me. “It was more the coaches thought Lachie wasn’t going to get there.”

It was a costly mistake, one the Eels don’t want to repeat. Which is why, in their quest to find a long-term halves partner for Mitchell Moses, they are entering into one of the most unique contractual calls in NRL history.

Their decision to offer in-demand Melbourne playmaker Jonah Pezet a one-year contract, at first glance, appears an exercise in short-termism. What is the point, many Parramatta fans have already vented online, of bringing in a half and developing combinations, only to let him walk out the door in 12 months’ time?

Ironically, coach Jason Ryles has made the call with the future at the forefront of his mind. Parramatta have some of the best junior halves in the game already in their system. The pick of the litter could well be Lincoln........

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