OFFICIAL Jarome Luai - #295

[twentyforty]

I just saw an article that one of his clauses says Luai has to advise the Tigers by the 30/4 each year of his future intentions.
Guess the timing is the key here so we should get full news by Friday or next Monday.

Honestly, I would be very surprised if he stays. What club could afford $2m?

 

[Mighty_Tiger]

Honestly, I would be very surprised if he stays. What club could afford $2m?

Tax free so it’s a massive pay bump win - that doesn’t include any additional 3rd party benefits as well.

 

[Tito Santana]

I’d be disappointed if he goes however it does make the pathway for Latu and Jock a lot more clearer. I’m a massive Luai fan.

Couldn’t blame him for going.

But to be honest, I believe Benji looks to have changed the culture as well here so the standards should be high going forward.

I think the NRL should have stopped at Perth. PNG is going to really stretch the talent not to mention they want to expand to a 20th team. South Island of NZ makes sense if they want to do it or an Ipswich team.

 

[Tom Shines]

I think the NRL should have stopped at Perth. PNG is going to really stretch the talent not to mention they want to expand to a 20th team. South Island of NZ makes sense if they want to do it or an Ipswich team.

$600m reasons they went with PNG .. they can also try to grow more talent there .. it’s essentially a free club for 10 years paid by the taxpayers … nothing to lose really

 

[hank37w]

Michael Chammas

• Appointment: Headhunted by ARLC chairman Peter V'landys for the role.

• He could also be headhunted in PNG. 🤣

 

[crazycat]

Yeah, I think too many people conflate his on-field with his off-field impact.

Off the field he's no doubt had an enormous, positive impact. Whether it's from recruitment, to fan engagement, to helping build a positive team culture. I'm less convinced of the winning attitude, given it's become overwhelmingly apparent he was a passenger rather than one of the drivers of the Penrith bus, but nonetheless he is a 4x premiership winner.

If we're talking about his on field impact, the contract has been awful. Yes you have to overpay for players in their prime when you're a bottom dweller, but his form of the past season and this year so far is more reflective of a $500k rather than 1.2m player.

So... should we factor off field form?

I am certain that guys like Cameron Smith, Slater and Cronk pushed the teams off the field as much as they did on.

If we have two players, and one is 800k on the field but doesn't really improve the teams training. While the second player is 650k of value, but drives our training off the field. Then we need to account for off field value.


Our current side we have seen average, nay even substandard players start playing out of their skin.

Lastly, Luai can play at 1.2m he just cannot do it consistently. Come finals or high pressure games I have seen him put it all in.

 

[supercoach]

I think by the end of 2027 Luai would have peaked so I guess it would give us plenty of cap space to use where required. I can’t blame him at his stage in his football career for having a serious look at a opportunity to put some serious money in the bank account that only PNG can offer through free Tax.

His contract with us allows him to make these enquires so he is doing nothing wrong. He has played a massive role in our rebuild and would be sad to see him walk, but there is always someone else willing to have a crack

 

[supercoach]

I’d be disappointed if he goes however it does make the pathway for Latu and Jock a lot more clearer. I’m a massive Luai fan.

Couldn’t blame him for going.

But to be honest, I believe Benji looks to have changed the culture as well here so the standards should be high going forward.

I think the NRL should have stopped at Perth. PNG is going to really stretch the talent not to mention they want to expand to a 20th team. South Island of NZ makes sense if they want to do it or an Ipswich team.

The PNG franchise was all about politics. PNG are absolute NRL mad and wanted a franchise and the Australian government backed the move in order to maintain their role in PNG and keep China at bay

 

[Lestronge]

Wtf I have no bias towards anything. We just suck at retaining players. Someone mentioned Brookes for if Bula leaves when he hasn’t even moved up to cup yet.

What are you talking about ? You’ve been prattling on chicken little style since the news broke . May people have been offering intelligent , educated and well thought out responses and using specific players to explain why it’s not the end of the word . You keep prattling on that it is . THATS A BIAS!
Relax mate ! Is all we are saying . I genuinely believe with AD , KPP, and the Fainus by 2028 , as well as the May boys there’s a genuine leadership group there . Benji now knows what it takes with fitness , I can see a core group being able to fill the void . Not replace Romey , but step into that position and have new voices lead in thier own way . Samuela especially .

 

[Jedi_Tiger]

Seen this before.. TBH I'm. nonplussed. If he goes we save a heap of money and think Doueihi or Latu could provide as much spark.

Be more annoyed if any of our forward pack left tbh.

true, i do think terrel may would be a bigger loss than luai
like what luai brings to team culture but on the field I think we can cope.
From an optics point of view expecting the media to go to town, "Luai leaving Leichardt" etc
rightly so expect the media pile on as they are correct if he goes to png he is leaving leichardt and he would have chosen png over tigers

 

[Tom Shines]

true, i do think terrel may would be a bigger loss than luai
like what luai brings to team culture but on the field I think we can cope.
From an optics point of view expecting the media to go to town, "Luai leaving Leichardt" etc
rightly so expect the media pile on as they are correct if he goes to png he is leaving leichardt and he would have chosen png over tigers

Mate … the media is always gunna go to town …Storm lose 6 in a row and no one really cares… WT they get the clicks and also have toxic owners and always seem to find controversy., eventually Benji and the players gotta knuckle down and ignore it … seemed to do that when the HBG/ board thing blew up in the off-season which was a much bigger crisis than this

 

[Jedi_Tiger]

Mate … the media is always gunna go to town …Storm lose 6 in a row and no one really cares… WT they get the clicks and also have toxic owners and always seem to find controversy., eventually Benji and the players gotta knuckle down and ignore it … seemed to do that when the HBG/ board thing blew up in the off-season which was a much bigger crisis than this

the usually rhetoric on here and with fans is nrl360 hate tigers or newscorp hates tigers.
in this case they are entitled to print luai is leaving if he goes and get stuck in that marquee player leaving.
There shouldn't be any complaining about newscorp then when he leaves and nrl360 hammers us.
From an optics point of view it looks pretty poor

From a salary cap point of view it is good, we can do a lot with his 1.2 million. I am just hoping it doesnt cost as TDM

 

[Lestronge]

true, i do think terrel may would be a bigger loss than luai
like what luai brings to team culture but on the field I think we can cope.
From an optics point of view expecting the media to go to town, "Luai leaving Leichardt" etc
rightly so expect the media pile on as they are correct if he goes to png he is leaving leichardt and he would have chosen png over tigers

He would have chosen 2m dollars over Leichardt . I’m a 5th generation tigers/watersiders supporter . And even I would take a few years of to earn 2mil a year in PNG . A 3 year deal there is over 6mil in the bank at least . 1.2m contract 800k in tpa and sponsorships . You’d honestly be mad not to take it .
Where it’s going to be hard is enticing a kid on 250k to go for an extra 100k (the tax differences) . Which they will need to fill the backend of the top 30. I can’t see too many saying Fark that . Like I keep saying unless they’re mad into fishing . It’s basically Darwin . And if you’re not the country type that place is hell on earth . I hated every second I was there when I lived there . So that’s going to be an issue I think . You will get probably a spine where you can give them 4-5mil combined . But at some point you gotta pay the 250-400k types . And that’s where they’re going to struggle as like I said that’s probably what after tax for 400k salary 125k -150k tax . People don’t leave thier clubs now for that. Look at the bears offering 300-400k more . The money will not be enough for you to leverage your career .

 

[hank37w]

It's hard to believe that Luai's trip to PNG was not discussed with Benji and I'm sure it would have been discussed right down to the planning for 2028 onwards if it was decided that Jerome would take up an offer from the Chiefs.

I would think that he would have gone with Benji's blessing and the knowledge that this inspection tour could fit in with our current 10 day turn around and I'm sure that with Benji's family values he would support Jerome in his decision if he thought it was the best thing for the future of his family.

There are positives that come from this and many may argue that Jerome's on field performance has not matched his contract value but I don't think too many could argue that his value has been in other areas involving culture change.

As previously mentioned, if Jerome was to leave in 2028, apart from a boost to our available cap it gives us a lot more breathing space to plan for the future, possibly better than the current situation with Bula which is leaving us up in the air wondering what could happen and what stop gap measures we may need to put in place.

The downside to all of this is the argument about who else is going to leave, but I see this as irrelevant as with 2 new franchises coming on board over the next 2 seasons that was always going to be an issue for most NRL clubs.

The big difference now is that we are currently doing well with a number of players in very good form that previously may not have been targetted by these new franchises but now may be on the radar.

I suppose you could be a little bit philosophical about that and say that without the culture change brought about by Benji and Jerome we would not currently be in this position, we just need to get some contracts signed to lock up some of our players and my greatest fear is that HBG may be playing a part in preventing this from happening.

 

[Tiger-ferret]

It's hard to believe that Luai's trip to PNG was not discussed with Benji and I'm sure it would have been discussed right down to the planning for 2028 onwards if it was decided that Jerome would take up an offer from the Chiefs.

I would think that he would have gone with Benji's blessing and the knowledge that this inspection tour could fit in with our current 10 day turn around and I'm sure that with Benji's family values he would support Jerome in his decision if he thought it was the best thing for the future of his family.

There are positives that come from this and many may argue that Jerome's on field performance has not matched his contract value but I don't think too many could argue that his value has been in other areas involving culture change.

As previously mentioned, if Jerome was to leave in 2028, apart from a boost to our available cap it gives us a lot more breathing space to plan for the future, possibly better than the current situation with Bula which is leaving us up in the air wondering what could happen and what stop gap measures we may need to put in place.

The downside to all of this is the argument about who else is going to leave, but I see this as irrelevant as with 2 new franchises coming on board over the next 2 seasons that was always going to be an issue for most NRL clubs.

The big difference now is that we are currently doing well with a number of players in very good form that previously may not have been targetted by these new franchises but now may be on the radar.

I suppose you could be a little bit philosophical about that and say that without the culture change brought about by Benji and Jerome we would not currently be in this position, we just need to get some contracts signed to lock up some of our players and my greatest fear is that HBG may be playing a part in preventing this from happening.

Great post thanks

 

[Jedi_Tiger]

He would have chosen 2m dollars over Leichardt . I’m a 5th generation tigers/watersiders supporter . And even I would take a few years of to earn 2mil a year in PNG . A 3 year deal there is over 6mil in the bank at least . 1.2m contract 800k in tpa and sponsorships . You’d honestly be mad not to take it .
Where it’s going to be hard is enticing a kid on 250k to go for an extra 100k (the tax differences) . Which they will need to fill the backend of the top 30. I can’t see too many saying Fark that . Like I keep saying unless they’re mad into fishing . It’s basically Darwin . And if you’re not the country type that place is hell on earth . I hated every second I was there when I lived there . So that’s going to be an issue I think . You will get probably a spine where you can give them 4-5mil combined . But at some point you gotta pay the 250-400k types . And that’s where they’re going to struggle as like I said that’s probably what after tax for 400k salary 125k -150k tax . People don’t leave thier clubs now for that. Look at the bears offering 300-400k more . The money will not be enough for you to leverage your career .

agree money wise he would be mad not to take it, it's his retirement club given he has won 4 premierships he doesnt owe anyone anything.
We can spread that cash around hopefully

 

[Tom Shines]

I suppose you could be a little bit philosophical about that and say that without the culture change brought about by Benji and Jerome we would not currently be in this position, we just need to get some contracts signed to lock up some of our players and my greatest fear is that HBG may be playing a part in preventing this from happening.

JL has been great for the teams culture and has played a part in signing players .., but two years later it’s now Benji primarily driving this ..

If HBG are sabotaging the team as you suggest … then it’s up to BM to speak out about it … no one else has the voice …

More likely on my opinion … players off contract come 2028 are waiting to see how much the new NRL Broadcast deal is …and the flow on to the salary cap and don’t want to commit too early

 

[Muffstar]

It's hard to believe that Luai's trip to PNG was not discussed with Benji and I'm sure it would have been discussed right down to the planning for 2028 onwards if it was decided that Jerome would take up an offer from the Chiefs.

I would think that he would have gone with Benji's blessing and the knowledge that this inspection tour could fit in with our current 10 day turn around and I'm sure that with Benji's family values he would support Jerome in his decision if he thought it was the best thing for the future of his family.

There are positives that come from this and many may argue that Jerome's on field performance has not matched his contract value but I don't think too many could argue that his value has been in other areas involving culture change.

As previously mentioned, if Jerome was to leave in 2028, apart from a boost to our available cap it gives us a lot more breathing space to plan for the future, possibly better than the current situation with Bula which is leaving us up in the air wondering what could happen and what stop gap measures we may need to put in place.

The downside to all of this is the argument about who else is going to leave, but I see this as irrelevant as with 2 new franchises coming on board over the next 2 seasons that was always going to be an issue for most NRL clubs.

The big difference now is that we are currently doing well with a number of players in very good form that previously may not have been targetted by these new franchises but now may be on the radar.

I suppose you could be a little bit philosophical about that and say that without the culture change brought about by Benji and Jerome we would not currently be in this position, we just need to get some contracts signed to lock up some of our players and my greatest fear is that HBG may be playing a part in preventing this from happening.

I heard on the radio this morning the Tigers were aware of Luai's trip to PNG, so it seems pretty transparent to all parties.

 

[TYGA]

To quote the great Kerry Packer ‘you only get one alan bond in your lifetime’

We wont be the only team impacted by an Australian Government funded geopolitical based NRL expansion.

Luai is the perfect face of the franchise for PNG. He will he 31 and sign a retirement deal which will set up his family. Tigers move on 2 years early.

NRL will back it as will the PNG government and corporates. I would be stunned if its not looked in this week.

 

[BlackWhiteGold]

It's hard to believe that Luai's trip to PNG was not discussed with Benji and I'm sure it would have been discussed right down to the planning for 2028 onwards if it was decided that Jerome would take up an offer from the Chiefs.

I would think that he would have gone with Benji's blessing and the knowledge that this inspection tour could fit in with our current 10 day turn around and I'm sure that with Benji's family values he would support Jerome in his decision if he thought it was the best thing for the future of his family.

There are positives that come from this and many may argue that Jerome's on field performance has not matched his contract value but I don't think too many could argue that his value has been in other areas involving culture change.

As previously mentioned, if Jerome was to leave in 2028, apart from a boost to our available cap it gives us a lot more breathing space to plan for the future, possibly better than the current situation with Bula which is leaving us up in the air wondering what could happen and what stop gap measures we may need to put in place.

The downside to all of this is the argument about who else is going to leave, but I see this as irrelevant as with 2 new franchises coming on board over the next 2 seasons that was always going to be an issue for most NRL clubs.

The big difference now is that we are currently doing well with a number of players in very good form that previously may not have been targetted by these new franchises but now may be on the radar.

I suppose you could be a little bit philosophical about that and say that without the culture change brought about by Benji and Jerome we would not currently be in this position, we just need to get some contracts signed to lock up some of our players and my greatest fear is that HBG may be playing a part in preventing this from happening.

It will be disappointing if it happens from the NRL romantic side of me but, like many fans on here, I see the positive in it & would not begrudge Luai doing it.

Yes we'd love Luai to finish his career with us given the impact he has had on the culture. But we have to be realistic about balancing the roster & salary cap too.

Luai going to PNG provides a transition plan for Latu Fainu into the halves, gives Javon Andrews time and a step closer to being a halves option once he has developed his game plus we have AD signed long-term and Madden as a viable back-up.

It gives us more cap space to plan for extensions for the May brothers & remaining Fainu brothers (Sam & Latu) plus potentially Tyrone May is seen as an option to join his brothers in 2028 for a couple of seasons as depth once his ESL contract expires.

If it does happen this week, I am sure the club led by Benji & Luai will present messages that show how it has all been handled professionally internally & Luai is as committed as ever for the rest of his contract.