{"id":633438,"date":"2026-04-27T05:32:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T05:32:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/633438\/"},"modified":"2026-04-27T05:32:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T05:32:12","slug":"png-prime-minister-encouraged-by-jarome-luais-visit-and-meeting-with-chiefs-bosses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/633438\/","title":{"rendered":"PNG prime minister encouraged by Jarome Luai’s visit and meeting with Chiefs bosses"},"content":{"rendered":"

Papua New Guinea’s prime minister has declared that Jarome Luai’s visit to Port Moresby “sends a message” the nation’s NRL team is ready to hit the ground running.<\/p>\n

The Wests Tigers playmaker was pictured in the PNG capital on Sunday where he met with PNG Chiefs officials and watched a game of the domestic national competition.<\/p>\n

“To be the first high-profile player to come and show interest in our team is something we deeply appreciate,” PNG Prime Minister James Marape told local media.<\/p>\n

“It sends a message that Papua New Guinea is ready, rugby league is strong here, and our future in the NRL is bright.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

James Marape says Luai’s trip to the country shows it is ready to embrace the NRL. (ABC News: Luke Stephenson)<\/p>\n

Luai is signed to the Tigers until the end of 2029 but his deal, believed to be worth $1.2 million a season, has exit clauses that allow him to depart early.<\/p>\n

The four-time premiership winner has until Thursday to indicate to the Tigers if he will remain with the club in 2027.<\/p>\n

ABC Sport Daily podcast<\/a><\/p>\n

ABC Sport Daily is your daily sports conversation. We dive into the biggest story of the day and get you up to speed with everything else that’s making headlines.<\/p>\n

That appears a formality given the Tigers’ 5-2 start this season but where it gets interesting is when the PNG Chiefs enter the NRL in 2028.<\/p>\n

Luai could massively increase his pay packet with the tax-free status afforded to NRL players as well as boost his earnings through third-party arrangements in a rugby league-obsessed country such as PNG.<\/p>\n

“At this stage, there is nothing formal or concrete,” Mr Marape said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Jarome remains contracted to the Wests Tigers, and we fully respect his current obligations.<\/p>\n

“We are a nation that honours due process, and we respect clubs, contracts, and the professionalism of the game.”<\/p>\n

Mr Marape also thanked Tigers coach Benji Marshall for allowing Luai to make the flying visit to Port Moresby.<\/p>\n

The Chiefs, who will be led by Hull KR coach Willie Peters, have yet to sign a player for their maiden season but have been linked to Sydney Roosters and NSW State of Origin utility Connor Watson.<\/p>\n

AAP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Papua New Guinea’s prime minister has declared that Jarome Luai’s visit to Port Moresby “sends a message” the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":633439,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[64,63,44080,4582,158,27284,234580,85,4515],"class_list":["post-633438","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-james-marape","tag-jarome-luai","tag-nrl","tag-papua-new-guinea","tag-png-chiefs","tag-sports","tag-wests-tigers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/633438","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=633438"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/633438\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/633439"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=633438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=633438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=633438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}