Dennisspicer1
Well-known member
Thanks teach for the correction.
OFFICIAL Jarome Luai - #295
- Thread starter Spartan117
- Start date
Tito Santana
Well-known member
Because Benji has honour and integrity. That’s why he has the backing of so many.
rugbygoated
Well-known member
Jarome has broken no rules. The only thing wrong he has done in the process is the I'm here for life talk he came up with in July last year after constant media questioning about his clauses. It makes him look stupid now, but since then he's done nothing wrong. Trip to PNG in April was before his clause would be deactivated on April 30 until November for going to market, with the PNG opportunity and money not likely as high if he wasn't the first signing. His form has been very poor. He has also been a constant feature on daily news segments and drama shows targeting him solely even during games where he wasn't that bad. The club moved him on when he was happy to stay another year under contract. It's an easy scapegoat this PNG thing
The same Benji Marshall that showed up on TV in an Auckland Blues jersey while still under contract to WT?
That Benji?
TV Ted Ellery
Well-known member
In a good team like Penrith, he's arguably worth $700k. But his output for the Tigers is on par with a back-up half on 250k.
Ivan is no fool.
Give him a kick up the arse on the way out.
mtd#2
Well-known member
Maybe technically he hasnt broken any rules, but whilst contracted with the wests tigers, promoting png chiefs wearing 001 is as shit as it gets.
hank37w
Well-known member
GNR4LIFE
Well-known member
Let’s no re-write history. He also let Crichton go. He didn’t let these players go because he didn’t rate them. He just couldn’t keep all of them. Luai won 4 comps in a row. Of course his price tag was going to be through the roof. Easy to be a Monday morning QB now, but 99% of people were fine with what he was being paid in January 2024.
Who's re-writing history? Ivan was right in what he said. He knew who the general was in the side, and it wasn't Luai. Desperate teams (i.e. Tigers, Chiefs albeit they are desperate to build a new roster it's not so much driven out of a decade and a half of failure,) are required to pay overs to lure players away from successful clubs. Canterbury had to do the same with Crichton. He was probably a $600-700k a year player at Penrith, at Canterbury at the time they signed him, he is a marquee signing.
Even now, Luai to Penrith would only be a $700-800k a year player.
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Who is in shock? This club has no self-respect, of course they'll give him a reach-around on the way out.
Can't argue with the outcome can you? 5 straight GF's and 4 straight wins.
"Oh you dogged the Tigers!"
Sorry mate, can't hear you. The reception is shitty at the top of the ladder...
GNR4LIFE
Well-known member
The history is being re-written in regards to everyone’s feelings at the time when we signed him. You weren’t around so you probably wouldn’t know. Everyone was excited. No one questioned the price tag. It was a necessity given where our club was at to attract top tier players. Now people claim in it was a bad contract and he was always over rated.
I would think most were OK with the price tag based on his form at Penrith but still understood we were paying overs to get him. He was being brought here to be a leader. As it played out he was anything but. Ivan knew this, obviously knew he would struggle outside their system and that's why he felt he wasn't worth what we were offering at Penrith.
They way things have played out, it certainly was a bad contract in hindsight. No one has to remain set in their view based on whenever it was he agreed to sign. He has grossly underperformed, has rarely led from the front, made claims that he was here for the long haul only to book it when yet again more money came knocking. What everyone may have been saying at the time he signed is completely irrelevant now. His time here, like with all big money recruits that come here, has been an abject failure. And people are entitled to change their view on that.
You can feel optimistic in 2024 at the prospect of him coming here, and sit here now in 2026 and say "he didn't live up to the expectation by a long margin, there was definitely something in what Cleary said." That's not re-writing history, that's reflecting.
tig_prmz
Well-known member
I think we are all overanalysing this whole situation.
We have much bigger fish to fry.
Times are changing, situations are changing every week. Something like PNG is unlikely to ever happen again.
Yeh we probably do lack self- respect as a club but we haven't achieved anything to deserve respect in the first place. Putting a line in the sand with Luai doesn't achieve anything. After all the bitter break- ups, we need to make sure players feel happy here, players go to other clubs and say yeh WT wasn't a bad place to be.
We lose nothing with Luai in PNG honestly.
We have much bigger fish to fry.
Times are changing, situations are changing every week. Something like PNG is unlikely to ever happen again.
Yeh we probably do lack self- respect as a club but we haven't achieved anything to deserve respect in the first place. Putting a line in the sand with Luai doesn't achieve anything. After all the bitter break- ups, we need to make sure players feel happy here, players go to other clubs and say yeh WT wasn't a bad place to be.
We lose nothing with Luai in PNG honestly.
orange&black
Well-known member
There is no doubt that in the cases of AD’s antics and Luai’s decisions, most of us would have loved to see the club react differently. Many of the reactions on here, however satisfying, were more about retaliation and spite than what was/is best for the team.
Benji said it himself in that presser he did after the AD saga - that sometimes you need to put aside your personal ego and make decisions for what you believe to be the best choices for the group to win games.
He not only tried to put the club ahead of what people were going to say about him being weak, but also sent a message about what was the most important thing, to everyone, including AD.
In the case of Luai, the club have been quick to cut ties with him once he made his choice. They have done it in a professional manner that showed they were focused on what is best for the Tigers. This week they will see that situation come to a clean and tidy conclusion. Give him a farewell, thank him for his contribution respectfully and move on.
On whether the Luai “experiment” has been a success or not- who knows if he has helped us move closer to success as a club or not. Time will tell, and it’s easy to look back and say it’s all been a waste because of the way he performed. Looking at it positively, one could say a door has been opened now and the future for our young halves is theirs for the making.
Benji said it himself in that presser he did after the AD saga - that sometimes you need to put aside your personal ego and make decisions for what you believe to be the best choices for the group to win games.
He not only tried to put the club ahead of what people were going to say about him being weak, but also sent a message about what was the most important thing, to everyone, including AD.
In the case of Luai, the club have been quick to cut ties with him once he made his choice. They have done it in a professional manner that showed they were focused on what is best for the Tigers. This week they will see that situation come to a clean and tidy conclusion. Give him a farewell, thank him for his contribution respectfully and move on.
On whether the Luai “experiment” has been a success or not- who knows if he has helped us move closer to success as a club or not. Time will tell, and it’s easy to look back and say it’s all been a waste because of the way he performed. Looking at it positively, one could say a door has been opened now and the future for our young halves is theirs for the making.
Dennisspicer1
Well-known member
He would not make FG with penrith,
And if Ivan was that desperate, the max they would pay him would be between
$400.000 to $500.000.
But they would never want him back.
Wouldn't give him a pack of fire starters.
