Jarome Luai has done his best to ignore the โoutside noiseโ about his pay packet, his form and whether Wests Tigers should have dropped him for rookie Javon Andrews once the club was out of finals contention.
But he allowed himself a brief moment to hit back on Sunday night following the Tigersโ shock 25-24 win over the Sydney Roosters, which turned the minor premiership race on its head.
โTell those guys to come and walk a day in my shoes and see if they can do it โ see if theyโre a better fit for it,โ Luai said. โItโs all outside noise.โ
Even a rival player weighed in on Luai last week, former Tiger John Bateman โlikingโ a Rugby League Insider post about Luai being the โthe most overpaid player everโ.
Things might get nasty on Saturday night when Batemanโs Cowboys host his former club and Luai. The Englishman will be named to play but is in doubt after injuring his foot at training on Monday.
Bateman was allowed take up a loan deal with Warrington midway through the 2024 season while still at the Tigers, only for reports to emerge while he was back home that there had been a bust-up with coach Benji Marshall.
The 32-year-old returned to the NRL and signed a deal with the Cowboys at the start of the 2025 season, but not before telling this masthead he was disappointed the Tigers had stayed quiet for so long about his apparent falling out with Marshall.
Luai has just two games remaining at the Tigers on a deal worth $1.2 million a season. He will then earn $1.1 million for a season at Parramatta, before his salary returns to $1.2 million, tax-free, at the PNG Chiefs from 2028.
The playmaker could also make as much as $3 million in third-party deals during his time at the 19th NRL franchise, where he has signed for two years with an option for a third.
Luai had some moments to forget during the thrilling 25-24 win over the Sydney Roosters, including a knock-on, missed tackle on Cody Ramsey and a forward pass, all by half-time.
But he was forever barking orders, trying to inspire the players and delivered a lovely short ball for Samuela Fainu, which led to a Solomone Saukuru try in the second half.
As for the next fortnight, Luai said: โ[Today] shows what we can do when we believe in each other, and we believe in what weโre doing at training.
โWeโve got two more games, and hopefully, we can take this momentum into next week. Iโm a bad loser โ after every loss I feel frustrated, and itโs a take-a-look-in-the-mirror type of thing. It feels a lot better after a win.โ
The Tigers will be without Alex Twal, who suffered a concussion in the opening minutes of the game, while Fainu hobbled off with a foot injury, which flared up at training during the week. However, scans have cleared him of any serious damage.
The Cowboys are fresh off the bye, can host an elimination final with wins over the Tigers and Canberra in Townsville, and will welcome back star playmaker Tom Dearden (shin) and Jeremiah Nanai (hamstring).
Dearden broke down with an ankle injury midway through the year, which denied him the chance to play for Queensland in the State of Origin series, only to return and suffer an injury to his other leg.
โHe essentially tore his shin muscle,โ Cowboys coach Todd Payten said. โThe specialist had only seen it once before. It attaches underneath the knee at the front. It was a wait-and-see approach, and if it didnโt heal by a certain time, he would have gone in for surgery.
โOnly 10 days ago he was touch and go. But he improved out of sight, and trained well last Tuesday and Wednesday.โ
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