{"id":638387,"date":"2026-04-29T12:06:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T12:06:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/638387\/"},"modified":"2026-04-29T12:06:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T12:06:11","slug":"wests-tigers-shift-focus-towards-retaining-jahream-bula-linked-to-canterbury-bulldogs-jarome-luai-departure-nrl-360-nrl-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/638387\/","title":{"rendered":"Wests Tigers shift focus towards retaining Jahream Bula, linked to Canterbury Bulldogs, Jarome Luai departure, nrl 360, nrl news"},"content":{"rendered":"

The departure of Jarome Luai to the PNG Chiefs means the majority of the attention of the Wests Tigers will now shift towards retaining star fullback Jahream Bula.<\/p>\n

Under contract until the end of the 2026 season, Bula has yet to make a decision on his long-term future but does have a player option and club option in his deal to keep him at the joint venture for at least one more season.<\/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

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With rival teams likely to circle, the Tigers face mountain pressure to lock in the superstar fullback not just for another season but for the foreseeable future as they look to contend for a premiership in the coming years.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think (a decision is fast approaching). They\u2019ve been locked in talks over an extension and it hasn\u2019t happened and that suggests to me it probably won\u2019t happen before the deadline in two weeks,\u201d Code Sports\u2019 Brent Read said on NRL 360.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen the ball is in the Tigers court. They can take up that option for $900,000 for next year. I think they\u2019ll work hard to get something done in the next couple of weeks.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy gut feeling is that Jahream would probably stay (but) there\u2019s a couple reason why he wouldn\u2019t. The main reason why he wouldn\u2019t is if he doesn\u2019t get a deal done and at the moment they haven\u2019t been able to get a deal done.\u201d<\/p>\n

‘Bula should be more of a priority’ | 03:47<\/p>\n

Failing to retain Bula would not only be a blow on the field due to his elite-calibre talent, but it would also set back the club\u2019s long-term plans as they would then need to go to market to find a suitable replacement.<\/p>\n

\u201cWho\u2019s the stopgap? Is it the Tigers? It shouldn\u2019t be to hard, I would\u2019ve thought,\u201d co-host Braith Anasta said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt looks pretty clear cut to me…I\u2019m watching at how he\u2019s been playing, what he\u2019s being offered, I\u2019m looking at how happy he is (and) the club\u2019s on the rise. Where else could he possibly go to perform better than what he is right now?<\/p>\n

\u201cWho\u2019s got more potential that\u2019s offering him more money?<\/p>\n

To which Read replied, \u201cHe\u2019s not allowed to go to market, so he wouldn\u2019t know. Obviously, they haven\u2019t been able to reach a satisfactory deal because the deal hasn\u2019t been done.\u201d<\/p>\n

PNG signing ‘puts pressure on Perth!’ | 02:21<\/p>\n

While many believe the relationship between coach Benji Marshall and Bula\u2019s manager Isaac Moses is one of the reasons behind the fullback not extending, Read shut this down.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re not best mates. I don\u2019t think it has (impacted the contract talks). I don\u2019t think that\u2019s the issue at the moment,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cGalvin wanted to go and the manager was doing what Galvin wanted him to do. In this situation, I don\u2019t think the issues between Benji and Isaac is a stumbling block to the deal getting done.\u201d<\/p>\n

Michael Carayannis of The Daily Telegraph added: \u201cIt has more impact than Jarome leaving. He has ten years left (in his career). <\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a star on the rise. By the time Jarome leaves in 18 months they might not have won a comp but it\u2019ll be job done for Jarome in a way.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Jahream\u2019s got the potential to be an elite fullback in the competition, so losing him would hurt big time<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The departure of Jarome Luai to the PNG Chiefs means the majority of the attention of the Wests…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":638388,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-638387","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638387","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=638387"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638387\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/638388"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=638387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=638387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=638387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}