Phil Gould has urged the Wests Tigers to take a cautious approach with boom teenager Lachlan Galvin. The 18-year-old halfback looks to be heading towards an NRL debut this season - and perhaps as early as round two - after being added to the club's senior roster on a three-year deal. He suited up in last week's trial against the Dragons and looked impressive coming off the bench. "He's a great kid, he's been on the horizon for some time. He's an NRL player," Gould told Wide World of Sports' Six Tackles with Gus podcast. "At 18 years of age, and he's still a bit slight, they'll have to look after him for a while but he will force his way into the NRL sooner rather than later. "He was quite impressive (in the pres-season trials), even though the Tigers weren't that good, he did some really nice things for one so young. "He is a shining light on the horizon, no doubt about that. I think he will be representative class down the track." While Gould believes Galvin is classy enough to feature in the NRL already, he wants the Tigers to take it slow. The Concord club is wallowing on the bottom of the competition, with consecutive wooden spoons and a tumultuous off-season casting a dark cloud over Benji Marshall's rookie season as coach. With Galvin being paraded as their next big thing, it will be tempting to throw the talented teenager straight in the deep end, and hope he can swim. But Gould fears that could have disastrous consequences. "You've just got to protect them from themselves a little bit. He's got no fear, and kids like that you've got to protect from themselves," Gould explained.
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