In the spoilers is a semi rant heavily praising Galka for the melee jobs.
:o Uhhhhhh... not really, and though it's a pretty small deal in today's FFXI, Galka is tied for last in Charisma. Means it can never be as good as Elvaan at pet jobs. And then there's the fact that Galka is the perfect melee race, and when I say that I mean it. Two less STR than elvaan, but four more VIT, equal DEX to Hume and Taru which is 3 more than Elvaan, 3 more AGI than Elvaan, and the highest HP of all races. I mean, race doesn't matter much mid-late game, because gear makes up so heavily for it, but at the same time I still look at it like, "Well what if I had a piece of gear with +3STR +7VIT +100HP that didn't take up a slot?(and let me bypass the Altepa gate alone)"
Maybe it's because you said the word brutal, but Galka is going to out perform Elvaan in every single one of the competent melee jobs. Not by much mind you, but all the little things really add up in this game. DRG, initial jumps are based off of STR and VIT, DEX on DRG is low already, again in Galka's favor. Galka has more HP to feed to a dying wyvern with spirit link. Galka can take more punishment before shedding hate with Super Jump, etc.
SAM, Elvaan sort of has the edge because SAM is basically nothing but stacking STR gear, because the WS's get such a large ACC and ATK bonus. Outside of WS though, Galka last longer and is more accurate, so eventually if a fight did drag out long enough, going solely by statistics, Galka would probably come out even to Elvaan or slightly ahead.
DRK - Galka has everything better that matters to this job than an Elvaan. Higher INT, higher VIT, higher DEX, higher HP for Souleater, more HP to soak up damage and ride Last Resort. Just better.
WAR - Galka again.
Those 4 other jobs are far more friendly to Elvaans, especially Paladin and Monk.
As for meriting weapons, Polearm 8/8 because DRG has no natural atk/acc enhancements beyond traits and suffers so much there. Great Axe 8/8 because Warrior is the best :P. Scythe 8/8 unless you were to do Caladbolg/Ragnarok. Great Katana 8/8
And if you want, I can talk about why Elvaan is so much more innately friendly to the MNK PUP BST PLD spread.