{"id":639926,"date":"2026-04-30T05:40:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T05:40:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/639926\/"},"modified":"2026-04-30T05:40:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T05:40:14","slug":"alarm-bells-ring-for-penrith-panthers-after-isaah-yeos-free-agency-reveal-jarome-luai-png-chiefs-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/639926\/","title":{"rendered":"Alarm bells ring for Penrith Panthers after Isaah Yeo\u2019s free agency reveal, Jarome Luai, PNG Chiefs, news"},"content":{"rendered":"

Are \u201calarm bells\u201d ringing at the Panthers and Tigers following Jarome Luai\u2019s shock defection to the PNG Chiefs<\/a> from 2028?<\/p>\n

Watch every game of every round of the Premiership Season 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

Following some surprise comments from Penrith co-captain Isaah Yeo, they just might be.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Yeo is one of several Panthers who are off contract at the end of 2027, hence, can test the open market from November 1.<\/p>\n

Fielding questions about his future, Yeo was honest, admitting several Panthers will see what they\u2019re worth.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m off contract with a lot of the boys here. You are going to have to be open minded at the end of the year,\u201d he said,<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard because you are waiting for dominos to fall, and that\u2019s probably Ivan and Nathan (Cleary) to go.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat would be the club\u2019s first plan and then off the back of that they will make the priority signings.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yeo was then asked directly if he would hit the open market.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we probably all will,\u201d he replied.<\/p>\n

Yeo, Brian To\u2019o, Nathan Cleary, Mitch Kenny and Liam Martin are just a number of Penrith stars who have current deals through until the end of 2027.<\/p>\n

MORE NRL NEWS<\/p>\n

\u2018NOT A FAIR FIGHT\u2019: Why Bears are fighting uphill battle in recruiting war<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2018RIDICULOUS MONEY\u2019: Tigers bombshell as Luai signs with PNG in huge coup<\/a><\/p>\n

LUAI: Inside irresistible pitch for star as three players named as next targets<\/a><\/p>\n

Luai denies tax-free as PNG reason | 03:40<\/p>\n

NRL360 host Braith Anasta found Yeo\u2019s comments \u201cinteresting\u201d and indicated that Penrith fans may be worried.<\/p>\n

\u201cI found it interesting. Nothing wrong with it but I didn\u2019t expect it from Isaah Yeo. Very open and very honest,\u201d Anasta said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe said he\u2019s entertaining the idea and that it\u2019s going to be hard to keep all the players and that to me is alarm bells.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe said they\u2019re all considering it. I think he said we\u2019ll all go to market which I find astonishing,\u201d journalist Brent Read added.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday night\u2019s episode of NRL360, Anasta and the panel listed several former teammates of Luai<\/a> who are November 1 guys this year, with To\u2019o and Martin raised as potential names who could be most likely to follow Luai.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were speculating last night on when we said look at all these players and it could mean nothing or it could mean something and I think it means something,\u201d Anasta said. <\/p>\n

The former Roosters and Bulldogs star who also works as a player agent for the likes of Cam Munster, Lachlan Ilias and Jonah Pezet.<\/p>\n

Marshall supports Luai’s PNG deal | 10:43<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll put my agent\u2019s cap on for this. If you\u2019re an agent, and this is where the Tigers might feel the pain is the players like Sunia Turuva and the May brothers, even if they have no intention to go to PNG, they can leverage this position,\u201d Anasta said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe agent goes to the Chiefs and go \u2018we want to come\u2019 even if they don\u2019t. This is the reality. Then they put in an offer and the (agent) goes back to the Tigers and say you have to up your offer so the Tigers get stung on each contract.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read agreed, believing that several players who hit the open market on November 1 will only do so to see what PNG and their tax-free salaries have to offer.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe worry is when they say we\u2019re going to market on November 1, they aren\u2019t going to market to see what PNG is offering. They aren\u2019t going to market for any other club,\u201d Read said.<\/p>\n

In some good news for the Tigers, reports have emerged that the club have resumed talks with star prop Terrell May<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Are \u201calarm bells\u201d ringing at the Panthers and Tigers following Jarome Luai\u2019s shock defection to the PNG Chiefs…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":639927,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[9199,64,63,26501,11096,5094,4582,4605,309883,30092,4598,118633,309885,85,309884],"class_list":["post-639926","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-alarm-bells","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-brent-read","tag-daniel-nuttall","tag-isaah-yeo","tag-jarome-luai","tag-mitch-kenny","tag-not-a-fair-fight","tag-open-market","tag-penrith-panthers","tag-player-agent","tag-shock-defection","tag-sports","tag-surprise-comments"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/639926","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=639926"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/639926\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/639927"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=639926"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=639926"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=639926"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}