Josh Morris believes the looming departure of Jarome Luai has blown up the Wests Tigers season, with the club falling to another messy 26-6 defeat to the Warriors.
It has been three months since the rugby league world found out that Luai would be departing to the PNG Chiefs in 2028, and when his departure was announced the Tigers looked to be in form to go for a run to make the finals.
Luai was the first player to sign with the PNG Chiefs. NRL Imagery
This week, it was revealed that he was told he is free to find a new home for next season, a move that would free up space in the club’s salary cap to retain their next long-term playmaker.
Pressure has been mounting on Luai to perform since his contract announcement was made – and on Friday players looked to his guidance to inspire a new sense of belief on-field against a raging Warriors outfit.
The Tigers were reduced to 12 men just 12 minutes into the match after prop Bunty Afoa was sin binned for a brutal late shot on Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad.
Jahream Bula had chased down a high bomb and spilled the ball out into the hands of the nearby Warriors winger when Afoa came storming in, hammering his former teammate to the turf shortly after he had passed it on.
Nicoll-Klokstad, who appeared to suffer whiplash, could not hide his pain as he stayed down on the turf, with referee Wyatt Raymond stopping play soon after.
A replay of the incident then made it clear to all that Afoa would be in the sin bin soon, with Raymond recognising and informing the prop that he had “ample opportunity to pull out of that clash” but instead he “carried through with force”.
Queensland great Cameron Smith warned that the Tigers needed to find a fast answer to come back to life if they wanted to survive the 10-minute period without that powering prop as the Warriors had shown they were in no mood to lose.
Defensive errors continued to harm the Tigers though, with Alofiana Khan-Pereira squeezing through a tiny gap to dive out wide and score. Three minutes later, Warriors centre Ali Leiataua joined the tryscorers list.
“Number one rule is that you have to be a straight defensive line … that was horrible defence,” Johns said.
“The Warriors are running without fear.”
Smith added: “This is just an onslaught by the Warriors. It looks like they are trying to catch up, the Wests Tigers. They are just not on the same side.”
The Warriors star managed to play on after the hit. Nine
A handful of six-again calls late in the half opened the door for the Tigers to snatch their first points, sending Samuela Fainu to dive on a short grubber.
The Warriors, who scored first via captain James Fisher-Harris, entered the second half with a 14-6 lead over the home team.
By full-time, the visitors had put 16 more points on the board to the Tigers zero.
Adam Doueihi admitted the team have “suffered too many losses on the trot”, but Morris fears that the off-field distractions are causing the players to lose focus.
“Have a look at their performances, I know they have had players in and out but they look like a fractured playing group,” Morris, a former NSW star, told 2GB’s Continuous Call Team prior to the Tigers’ loss to the Warriors.
“Luai has been tapped on the shoulder to look elsewhere for next year. Was that because he is not going to be there (in 2028) or because Benji’s seen something at training that he doesn’t like?
“The Lachlan Galvin (exit) thing was a distraction for them and now this has been a distraction. It has happened midway through the seasons and both times they looked like they were going on the up, then it threw a spanner in the works. It is splitting up the playing group.
“Six weeks ago, they were looking finals bound and now I don’t think they can make it. They haven’t played finals football in 15 years.”
James Fisher-Harris scores for the Warriors. Getty Images
Marshall refused to comment on Luai’s situation when asked by Nine pre-game, with the Eels publicly expressing their interest in the playmaker for next season.
Smith and Allana Ferguson both agreed that the Tigers need to block out news about their teammates departure and focus on making the finals.
“Looking from the outside in, it looks like it is affecting the way they are playing,” Ferguson said on Nine.
“He is supposed to be the one that gets them up.”
Smith added: “Given the position they are in and how close they are to being in finals footy – this was a club decision to allow Jarome to possibly leave early.
“That decision has been made. The players now need to focus on their performances because there is an opportunity to play finals football, that is what they need to focus on, not Jarome.
“Put the feelings aside and think about performance. That is what they are employed to do. If they do that, they can play really good rugby league and compete with most teams in this competition.”
The Tigers currently sit 12th on the ladder. They will face Bulldogs next Saturday.