{"id":631822,"date":"2026-04-26T10:14:18","date_gmt":"2026-04-26T10:14:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/631822\/"},"modified":"2026-04-26T10:14:18","modified_gmt":"2026-04-26T10:14:18","slug":"nrl-2026-jarome-luai-meets-with-png-chiefs-ahead-of-contract-deadline-heartbreaking-for-wests-tigers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/631822\/","title":{"rendered":"NRL 2026: Jarome Luai meets with PNG Chiefs ahead of contract deadline, \u2018heartbreaking\u2019 for Wests Tigers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jarome Luai has been spotted in Papua New Guinea meeting with Chiefs officials about a possible move to the NRL\u2019s 19th team. <\/p>\n

Code Sports<\/a> first reported Luai was seen in Port Moresby on Sunday with key members of the Chiefs hierarchy as he weighs up joining the PNG team in 2028. <\/p>\n

Watch every game of every round of the NRL Premiership LIVE with no ad-breaks during play on FOX LEAGUE, available on Kayo Sports | New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/a><\/p>\n

Luai, 29, is contracted at the Wests Tigers until the end of 2028 but the playmaker has a yearly clause in his deal that allows him to choose to stay at the Tigers or leave.<\/p>\n

According to Code Sports, Luai must inform the Tigers by Thursday (April 30) if he wants to stay at the club for another year. <\/p>\n

Luai played in the Tigers\u2019 33-14 win over the Canberra Raiders at Leichhardt Oval on Thursday night, and the club was aware he was planning to head overseas. <\/p>\n

The SMH<\/a> reported Luai\u2019s visit to PNG was being co-ordinated by the Chiefs CEO Lorna McPherson, and general manager, Michael Chammas.<\/p>\n

If Luai joins PNG in 2028, he would leave the Tigers three years into his five-year deal, worth around $1.2 million per season. The NRL would not register his contract at the Tigers for less than that due to the competition\u2019s contract rules. <\/p>\n

It means the Samoan five-eighth would have to earn the equivalent of more than $2 million per season at a club in Australia given the tax-free contracts on offer at the Chiefs in PNG.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has not made this a secret to the Tigers, they knew he would be out of the country,\u201d Lara Pitt said on Fox League\u2019s coverage on Sunday.<\/p>\n

\"Wests<\/p>\n

\u201cWhether or not they knew he would be in PNG is another story. We know he has all sorts of clauses in his contract at the Tigers.<\/p>\n

\u201cCleary he\u2019s exploring his options. This would be an enormous coup for he brand new franchise.\u201d<\/p>\n

Greg Alexander said: \u201cIt is very interesting to think Jarome might be their first marquee signing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Chiefs and the Bears are coming into the competition looking for marquee signings,\u201d Michael Ennis added.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is going to happen regularly. When there\u2019s clauses in contracts that allow these things to happen.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s heartbreaking for Tigers fans. They\u2019re sitting up the top of the competition. Jarome\u2019s a massive part, he\u2019s been a huge recruit for them.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would be so disappointing for them if they did lose them. Fascinating story.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even accounting for the improvement of Adam Doueihi in the halves, it would be a hammer blow for the Tigers to lose both Lachlan Galvin and Luai within a couple of years.<\/p>\n

Originally published as \u2018Enormous coup\u2019: Jarome Luai meets with PNG Chiefs ahead of contract deadline<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jarome Luai has been spotted in Papua New Guinea meeting with Chiefs officials about a possible move to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":631823,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,277557,158,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-631822","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nrl","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-national-rugby-league","11":"tag-nationalrugbyleague","12":"tag-ncaeditorialkayoprogram","13":"tag-nrl","14":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/631822","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=631822"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/631822\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/631823"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=631822"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=631822"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=631822"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}