Jarome Luai’s NRL future beyond 2024 remains
Off-contract Panthers star Jarome Luai has again been linked to the embattled Wests Tigers – and his friendship with skipper Api Koroisau could prove to be decisive.
Luai, 26, has been free to negotiate with rival NRL clubs since November 1, with his contract at Penrith ending in 2024.
The premiers have told the five-eighth they can only pay him roughly $850,000 a season to stay due to salary cap restraints, which is considerably less than he will command elsewhere.
A popular school of thought is that the polarising pivot may seek a new challenge after winning three successive titles – so jumping ship to play under Benji Marshall is said to be appealing.
And as long as he stays at the foot of the Blue Mountains in NSW, Luai will always play second fiddle to halfback Nathan Cleary.
Benji Marshall says it would only be natural for his club to look at signing Jarome Luai, but the Wests Tigers coach stressed he’s more than happy with the four halves he’s got as the wooden spooners look to bounce back from a horror few years.
Rival clubs are able to negotiate with Luai for the 2025 season, with teams like the Bulldogs and Tigers reportedly able to offer monster contracts to lure the representative five-eighth out of Penrith.
Signing someone like Luai would be a huge coup for the Tigers, but Marshall is excited with new recruits Aidan Sezer, Jayden Sullivan and young gun Latu Fainu, while he revealed Adam Doueihi could return from an ACL injury next year.
“All players that come into the market, you’ve got to have a look at, especially if they’re marquee players,” Marshall said as the Tigers try to replace veteran halfback Luke Brooks, who has moved to Manly.
“But again, we’ve signed halves, we’ve got four halves for the season going into it. We’ll prioritise that at the moment. Whatever happens with recruitment, when we make a decision or learn about it, we’ll tell you guys.
“One thing I’m not going to do is talk about recruitment publicly. The guys we have recruited I will talk about but what happens with the players we’re trying to sign, we’ll keep that as in-house as possible.”
It’s unclear whether Fainu will be thrown into the deep end given he’s still 18, but he will have the chance to hone his craft under Sezer after the veteran playmaker returned to the NRL following a stint in the UK.
Aidan Sezer’s been a really good buy for us for a couple of reasons; he obviously brings experience and he’s played a lot of footy,” his new coach said.
“I think his last game in the NRL was at Canberra where he played a grand final. Just seeing how he operates, not only as a person off the field but the way he trains and goes about his business is going to be great for us to help these young guys learn.
“Everyone’s got ideas about what I should do (with the halves) but one thing I’ve made really clear with the players is no one’s guaranteed a spot.
“In our team, you have to earn that through hard training in the pre-season and if you earn it, you’re playing. I don’t care how old you are, how experienced you are, if you earn it through hard training in the pre-season, you’re more than likely going to play.”
The makeup of the squad is going to be one of the biggest talking points for a fan base that has been starved of success and is fed up with excuses having not seen their team plays finals footy since 2011.
The return of Tim Sheens was supposed to make a difference, but having a club legend like Marshall locked in at least gives fans a reason to believe that the young squad has the talent and the guidance to start rising up the ladder.
I can understand the level of disappointment and frustration over the last 10 years obviously without the success,” Marshall said.
“I guess part of my job is helping them (the fans) believe as it is helping the players believe that we can get back to where we want to get to.
“All those things I touched on, being a hardworking team that competes on every play and mix it with being good people will go a long way towards doing that.
“It doesn’t matter what I say right now, it’s going to be about actions when it comes time to play.
“We do want to restore some pride in our jersey and give our fans and members a team that they’re proud to support. That’s probably one of the biggest things, and be proud every time you put on the Tigers jersey, wear it with pride.”
Marshall, who has learnt from master coaches Sheens and Wayne Bennett, didn’t want to predict where his side would finish in 2024.
But he did assure fans and the playing group that the rumblings at board level that have plagued the club for years wouldn’t filter down to the team.
“One thing I’ve made really clear with the players is whatever happens at board level above us has no effect on what we do,” he said.
“We can control the way we train and the way we prepare and I’ll make sure that’s very clear. But again, I think recruitment decisions should be kept in-house.
“Because it does have the effect to ruin a deal if stuff gets out or stuff gets leaked.”
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