OFFICIAL Jarome Luai - #295

TigerJunior4 said:
This is an absolute shit show and really doesn’t reflect favourably on anyone.

I can see this dragging out and getting nasty.
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Have to disagree, the forum consensus is overwhelmingly that we are not getting a good return for our outlay. The club has weighed it up and now , in your opinion, it’s a shit show. I say, good work !
Surely better to sacrifice Luai, bring Latu and Makasini through and thrown in Averillo, we start to see some future shape.
And Douehi deserves an upgrade, what’s he on 375’? He’s done a lot more than Luai on the field.
 
Regardless of whether you think Luai was good for the club or should be released early, the club has handled this situation so poorly.

Good clubs don’t let things like this distract them from winning games. But as soon as there’s tension or adversity at the Wests Tigers the joint implodes. It speaks to a rotten, toxic culture at the club.

The club has completely let it derail the season, failed to resolve simmering tensions and re-focus on winning football games and now all this shit is playing out in the media.

Yet another contract circus involving the Wests Tigers.
 
Tom Shines said:
Perth would take him … it’s worth it to them in publicity alone … but he still has to agree to go which I doubt is happening for 1 year and then going to PNG
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Yeah there would be too much upheaval with family etc for just one year and then having to move again the year after. He’d want to stick in Sydney I’m sure. Maybe he can team up with his buddy Galvin at the Dogs! 😂
 
Flippedy said:
Yeah there would be too much upheaval with family etc for just one year and then having to move again the year after. He’d want to stick in Sydney I’m sure. Maybe he can team up with his buddy Galvin at the Dogs! 😂
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Maybe PVL could offer him something to get him over there to lift the profile of the Bears ? Would need to be a little dodgy 😂
 

‘God’s plan, not mine’: Tigers put Luai on the market early to save $1.2m​

Adrian Proszenko, Dan Walsh, Chris Barrett·5 min read·Jul 9, 2026

Wests Tigers co-captain Jarome Luai has agreed to leave the club at the end of this season as it looks to free up more than $1 million in salary cap space.

Luai is the Tigers’ highest-earning player on approximately $1.2 million next season, and has signed a contract to join incoming franchise PNG Chiefs in 2028.

With his long-term future locked in elsewhere, the Tigers last week raised the prospect of Luai moving on at the end of the season as the club recalibrates its playmaking stocks and prepares an extension for Latu Fainu, his potential replacement in the halves.

Concerns over Luai’s recent form and the possibility of him promoting PNG while still a Tigers player next season prompted them to move. The Tigers are prepared to chip in $200,000 to help Luai land a deal elsewhere.
Jarome Luai’s Instagram story after news of his potential early exit broke.Instagram
Shortly after the news broke, Luai posted a photo of himself on Instagram with the caption: “Gods [sic] plan, not mine”, with Rod Wave’s Moving On as an accompanying soundtrack.

Both Fainu and his brother Samuela can entertain rival offers if they go to market on November 1, with the Tigers set to ramp up re-signing talks to tie the pair down beforehand. The club is yet to table formal extension offers to either Latu or Samuela.

Dolphins flyer Jake Averillo will also join the Tigers next year on a lucrative four-year deal and is another option to partner Adam Doueihi in the halves.

Tigers officials have stressed that there is no issue with Luai, who has a close relationship with coach Benji Marshall. He will take his place as planned against the Warriors on Friday night after being named to return from delayed concussion symptoms.

Luai’s pending exit from the Tigers leaves him having to secure a new club for a single season before heading to Port Moresby, with Parramatta looming as a leading option.

Sources close to Luai have indicated his preference is to avoid uprooting his young family for a one-year deal given they are already moving to PNG before the 2028 season, where Chiefs players, staff and their families will live in restricted resort-style accommodation.

The Eels have space at their scrumbase alongside skipper Mitchell Moses and in their salary cap as well, with Jonah Pezet moving to Brisbane next year. Parramatta have high hopes for several young halves led by Joash Papalii, Lincoln Fletcher and Lorenzo Talataina and do not want to recruit over the top of them.

However, signing Luai on a short-term 2027 deal would allow their emerging playmakers another 12 months to develop below NRL level. The Eels have also been in the market for a marquee prop and outside back reinforcements.

The incoming Perth Bears have also privately indicated they would entertain pursuing Luai at the right price. The Bears are sorely missing a marquee player ahead of their entry to the competition next season, while signing Luai would put him in the bizarre position of being a foundation player at both of the NRL’s expansion teams in consecutive years.

St George Illawarra are short of a representative-level half and are reshaping their roster, although they have spent significantly to bring in Scott Drinkwater, Keaon Koloamatangi, Luke Metcalf and Connor Watson for next season.

Luai arrived at the Tigers at the end of 2024 as a marquee signing on a $6 million, five-year deal that contained several exit clauses

His off-field influence has been instrumental in helping to turn the underperforming club around, however an exit at the end of this season would come less than halfway through the originally-agreed terms of that deal.

Luai exercised an exit clause earlier this year to become the PNG Chiefs first signing, with the Tigers waiving the 10-day cooling-off period as the NRL’s newest franchise struck their first blow in the player market.

The initial announcement of Luai’s PNG deal sparked speculation the Tigers could end up being raided by the Chiefs given his friendships among the NRL squad.

However, the May brothers Terrell and Taylan, fullback Jahream Bula, winger Sunia Turuva and highly rated teen centre Heamasi Makasini have all re-signed long-term extensions in recent months.
 
Potential 2027 line up, imo.

Bula
Makasini
May
Averillo
Skelton
Latu
Douehi (c)
Twal
Pearce Paul
Sami
May
Korosau
Pole

Afoa
Seyfarth
Leynon
Sukkar
Turuva
Andrews
Sione
 
Halbrowne61 said:
Well there are plenty of Christians who subscribe to that theory, so if that’s what he believes I wish him well. We only have to watch the joint prayers at the end of games to see how deeply ingrained Pacific Island religious values are felt.
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I’m sure they believe, but you can’t tell me there isn’t a performative aspect when they all do it in the middle of the field.
 
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