BREAKING: Tigers Turn On Luai, Blues Flip Origin & Bunker Farce
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Why did the Wests Tigers tell Jarome Luai he can negotiate elsewhere?
Welcome to Kenny Blitz, your daily hit of NRL news. And there's a big story that's breaking in the NRL. Jerome Luai, told by the West Tigers, he's free to negotiate with another club for next season.
Yeah, it's extraordinary, isn't it? Wow. It's out of left field. Michael Karyanis broke it in the paper today. I'm still trying to get my head around it. Now, what we sort of know for fact is that the Tigers have approached Luai and told him he's free to negotiate. So as we know, he's got next year at the Tigers and then the year after he joins Papua New Guinea. Why the Tigers have done that, I think no one will know. It hasn't been explained. Putting my thinking cap on, I'm thinking they're just – they're probably thinking he's just not worth what they're paying for him. The reason given was that they're trying to sign their Fianu brothers.
Kariannis has reported that.
He's reported that they want to sign them.
And they can save money.
And they can save money. And obviously, with Luai leaving the club, I think it's obvious. If you go now or go in a year's time, what's the difference? He – It's going to be – I think it's probably an acknowledgement too that he hasn't quite earned what they're paying him.
I was going to say to you, it comes across as a bit of a slap in the face and especially, mate, given – how the relationship between Benji and Jerome and how that's almost been a really big selling point and pulling point, Benji's relationship with the players.
Yeah, but Benji would be aware of this and Benji would be part of the decision. Benji's got a big influence at the club. Yeah. So, again, and how it unfolds the rest of the year is also going to be interesting now because Luai – I think Tigers have seen this year that they perform better with Dewey in the halves than with Luai. If you've got a choice of one or the other. And Madden, yeah. Yeah, but, I mean, if you've got a choice of Dewey or Luai, assuming Madden's there, and also knowing that the Tigers have signed Jake Averillo for next season, so there's another half for them. But Dewey seems to have had more of a positive impact on how they've played than what Luai has. Now, I know there's been times it's played together, but when it's one or the other, Dewey seems to be the guy that's had the greater impact.
And he's on far less money than Luai. Luai, look, he's got his ticket out of there. He's going to the pub in New Guinea for the riches there. I think it's a brutal call from the Tigers. But I really admire it. I think it's a really brave call. And the fact that they've said, you know what, this is the problem we've got. We want to sign these guys. We've already signed Dream Buller and a couple of other players that they wanted to keep for next year. They're trying to find room for the Fianu brothers. Where do we find that room? Well, we've got this bloke here who's earning $1.2 million who's been okay. I don't think he's been – I don't think he's been what the Tigers thought they were getting. And so I think they've just said, you know what, this is where we can save our money, give him permission to go.
But that's now going to be dependent. They can't really say too much to push him out of the club either, though, because they've got to try and sell him. He's in the shop window at the moment. They've got to find a buyer.
And it will be interesting to see, too, mate, how Jerome handles it.
Yeah.
Moving forward, because I know the Tigers are slipping down the ladder and it's appearing more and more unlikely that they'll be playing finals footy this year, but it's still pretty early in the season to be putting the cue on the rack.
Yeah, but he's got no choice, mate, because he went to Tigers for the top dollar. He had that clause that allowed him to go and negotiate, which he utilised to sign with Papua New Guinea for 2028. So he has played the contract rule. He has played it. Okay, this is what I'm doing. It's a sport. I've got to look after my family. But he had those clauses written into his contract.
Yeah, but that's – This clause wasn't written into anything.
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
Why did the Wests Tigers tell Jarome Luai he can negotiate elsewhere?
0:01–6:16
2
How does Doueihi’s form and salary comparison explain the Tigers’ decision on Luai?
6:16–22:00
3
How did New South Wales 'flip the Origin script' to beat Queensland in Game 3?
22:00–31:57
4
Which moments and players (Moses, Liam Martin, Cleary) decided the Origin decider?
31:57–42:20
Speakers
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