Luai was supposed to lead Tigers back to the finals. He’s leaving after 18 months. What went wrong?

When Jarome Luai flew to Port Moresby on a private jet and signed with the PNG Chiefs in April, the Wests Tigers took the loss of their $6 million star with good grace.

It was an opportunity “too good to refuse” for Luai, admitted Tigers coach Benji Marshall, who waived the 10-day cooling-off period and set about planning for the future while vowing the club would make the most of their co-captain for the 18 months they had left with him.

The team had at that point won five of their first seven games – three of the victories chalked up while Luai was absent with a knee injury – and were riding high on the NRL ladder.

Little more than two months later, with the Tigers’ hopes of ending a 15-year finals drought fading fast, the four-time premiership winner is on the way out.

In a staggering turn of events, the Tigers have effectively asked him to leave, only two seasons into his initial five-year deal with the club.

Last Thursday, Luai was given permission to speak to other teams, setting in train negotiations that look set to see him switch to Parramatta for a single season in 2027 before he starts his Chiefs contract in time for their entry into the competition the following year.

They have made the decision in order to free up cash from his $1.2 million per season contract and re-sign the likes of brothers Latu and Samuela Fainu.

But there was a belief at the Tigers that Luai had also been distracted by his future relocation to PNG, with whom he has signed a two-year deal also worth an estimated $1.2 million a year – tax-free.

According to sources with knowledge of the situation, speaking on the condition of anonymity, he is already being paid PNG-related third-party agreements while still at the Tigers, which hasn’t endeared him to his current club.

The Tigers declined to comment ahead of a crucial clash against the New Zealand Warriors at Campbelltown Stadium on Friday night, and Luai’s manager did not return a call and messages.

But after being cast as the Tigers’ saviour when he arrived at Concord, his pending departure is just the latest chapter in a club history marked by underachievement.

Luai’s form has been mixed since he was announced as PNG’s inaugural signing – “Player 001” – in late April.

He had a blinder a month ago against Gold Coast Titans in the last game at Leichhardt Oval before it is renovated, scoring a second-half treble of tries to inspire a come-from-behind victory. A week later, he had four try assists in a 36-22 defeat to the Dolphins.

But the injury-hit Tigers have won only two of eight games since Luai’s PNG move was revealed, to slide out of the top eight – although he could not be blamed for their last-start loss to bottom-placed St George Illawarra, which he sat out with delayed concussion.

Luai was signed to a five-year deal by the Tigers in January 2024 soon after veteran administrator Shane Richardson took charge at the club.

He played out that season at Penrith, collecting a yet another premiership ring, before joining the Tigers after they had picked up a third straight wooden spoon.

“Whenever you take over a club, you’ve got to make a statement with a player,” Richardson said on Friday.

“We brought in ‘GI’ [Greg Inglis] at Souths and Preston Campbell when I was at Penrith. Luai was that statement at Wests Tigers. He attracted other players and, more importantly, convinced players who were already there to stay.”

So important was the acquisition of Luai to the struggling club that the Tigers agreed to insert an exit clause in his contract, allowing him to walk away during the course of his deal, which was to run until 2029.

Ultimately, Luai decided to move on only 18 months into his tenure, when the Chiefs came knocking with their offer of tax-free riches and the chance to front the historic, Australian government-backed expansion side.

Richardson, who left as chief executive last December amid a schism in which the club’s owners, the Holman Barnes Group, assumed majority control of the Tigers board, said Luai brought great leadership and training ethos to Marshall’s team as well as a winner’s mentality.

“People were expecting him to win games by himself, but that’s not how it works when you’ve won three wooden spoons,” he said.

“Obviously, it’s a disappointment that he [signed for PNG] when he did, but having said that we’ve now developed players that have come on leaps and bounds that we need to retain and extend. At the end of the day, it is what it is. I get why the club would want to get that money and ensure they keep those emerging players.”

At top of the list are Latu and Samuela Fainu, who are both off contract at the end of the 2027 season.

The Tigers have earmarked 21-year-old Latu as a long-term playmaker while Samuela, 22, was one of the most impressive back-rowers in the competition before suffering a foot injury that has sidelined him for more than two months.

With Adam Doueihi, Jock Madden and promising teenager Javon Andrews on their books, as well as project player Josh Schuster, they are also not short on halves.

The Tigers are prepared to offset Luai’s salary next season by about $200,000, but they may have to contribute more to his wages than that for him to seal a gap-year deal at another club in Sydney, as is his preference.

The most obvious destination is Parramatta, where he could link with captain and halfback Mitchell Moses, with whom he has a perfect record in three State of Origin appearances together including the 2024 series decider at Suncorp Stadium.

The Eels are wary of handing out another one-year bridging deal after Jonah Pezet’s largely unsuccessful stopover at Parramatta en route to Brisbane next season, and have rising talents Lincoln Fletcher and Lorenzo Talataina coming through.

But Luai is a ready-made option for Parramatta who would not be standing in the way of those youngsters for the long term and would not prevent them pursuing the catalogue of big-name players who are off contract at their clubs after 2027.

In an indication that he’s likely to be wearing blue and gold, contract talks have fallen over between Parramatta and Ronald Volkman, who has spent most of the season in the top grade at five-eighth or halfback.

Eels coach Jason Ryles told this masthead on Thursday nightthat Parramatta may be interested in Luai, and reiterated those sentiments on Friday.

“Obviously, he’s an elite talent,” Ryles said. “We’re always looking at elite talent to bring to our club, but that’s all really fresh at the moment. So, it’s something that obviously is worth a conversation, and we’ll just see where that goes, if it goes anywhere.”

Asked what Luai brings as a player, Ryles said: “He’s an elite talent. He’s a four-time premiership player, and I think it speaks for itself. So, obviously, he’s a quality player, and his standing in the game is what it is because of his performances on the field.”

As for the Tigers, there were fears Luai’s signature with PNG could trigger an exodus from the club, particularly with the war chest at the Chiefs’ disposal.

A handful of key players have in fact re-committed since then. Fullback Jahreem Bula, outside back Sunia Turuva and the May brothers, Terrell and Taylan, have all extended their contracts until after the 2030 season while up-and-coming three-quarter Heamasi Makasini has signed on until 2029.

The world didn’t fall in after all.

Instead, there was a show of faith in Marshall, who is also signed until the end of 2030.

However, the Tigers’ season has gone backwards, which will inevitably put pressure on the coach.

Marshall has been close with Luai but is now planning for life without him.

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