{"id":723309,"date":"2026-06-08T15:44:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T15:44:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/723309\/"},"modified":"2026-06-08T15:44:14","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T15:44:14","slug":"nrl-2026-the-incredible-numbers-behind-wests-tigers-decline-jarome-luai-signing-with-png-chiefs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/723309\/","title":{"rendered":"NRL 2026: The incredible numbers behind Wests Tigers decline, Jarome Luai signing with PNG Chiefs"},"content":{"rendered":"

The \u201cincredible\u201d numbers behind the Tigers\u2019 decline since Jarome Luai signed with the Chiefs have been laid bare, with the \u201cjury still out\u201d on the NRL\u2019s early season surprise packet. <\/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

The Tigers were one of the better success stories to start but The Daily Telegraph\u2019s Dean Ritchie was not convinced, declaring last month<\/a> that he was worried the \u201cbubble\u201d was \u201cbursting\u201d.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

That came after the Tigers lost two-straight games by a combined margin of 70 points to fall down the ladder.<\/p>\n

It was easy at that point to simply point to the club\u2019s lengthy casualty ward, with Adam Doueihi and Samuela Fainu among the biggest names to be missing.<\/p>\n

That was still the case on Sunday afternoon and few people expected the Tigers to challenge the Panthers.<\/p>\n

But this Tigers team under Benji Marshall has higher standards than the performance they dished up in the 68-0 defeat<\/a> and it begs the question: was it all hype or is there still substance to their rise this season?<\/p>\n

As is often the case with questions like that, the truth probably lies somewhere in the middle with the injuries being a legitimate excuse but not for Sunday\u2019s historic loss to Penrith.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Tigers\u2019 opening 20 was one of the worst opening 20s I have seen from a side all year, they couldn\u2019t complete a set,\u201d Brent Read said on \u2018NRL 360\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey just made mistake after mistake.\u201d<\/p>\n

Get all the latest NRL news, highlights and analysis delivered straight to your inbox with Fox Sports Sportmail. Sign up now!!!<\/a><\/p>\n

Panthers DEMOLISH Tigers 68-0 | 05:08<\/p>\n

Read said that while a top-four finish \u201cmight be a stretch now\u201d, he still believes the Tigers are \u201cwell in the mix\u201d for the finals and considering they haven\u2019t played deep into September since 2011, that would be a big step in the right direction for the joint-venture.<\/p>\n

But the sudden slump still poses significant questions for coach Marshall moving forward after he seemed to have instilled a certain work ethic and defence-first mindset that paved the way for consistent success at the club. <\/p>\n

Braith Anasta said the \u201cjury is still out\u201d on the Tigers, adding they have \u201cfallen off a cliff\u201d and that while they have become a more attractive destination for rival players under Marshall the extent to which that is true \u201cwill be determined by the next few months\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you lose 68-0 you become more unattractive,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Which brings everything back to Luai, because he was one of the Tigers\u2019 marquee signings and one of the biggest reasons they became an attractive club to play for in the first place.<\/p>\n

Now, he is leaving at the end of next year.<\/p>\n

Marshall was adamant at the time that it would not derail their season because Luai had been so transparent through the whole process, and so as a result all his teammates were across why he was making the move.<\/p>\n

Plus, he still had over a year left with the group to make sure he left his mark at the club.<\/p>\n

But according to former two-time premiership winner Luke Keary, Luai hasn\u2019t done that yet.<\/p>\n

RELATED: Benji\u2019s all-time roasting of terrible Tigers, apologises to fans for dark day<\/a><\/p>\n

Jarome Luai has struggled recently. (Photo by Brendon Thorne\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cJarome has to stand up. He hasn\u2019t brought them success… they haven\u2019t done anything while he\u2019s been there,\u201d Keary said during Fox League\u2019s coverage on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Read called Luai a \u201ccircuit-breaker\u201d for the Tigers in luring other big-name players to the club, pointing out that the recent form slump \u201ccoincided with significant injuries\u201d.<\/p>\n

He also argued that even if the Tigers haven\u2019t secured a top-eight finish under Luai\u2019s leadership yet, he has changed the \u201cidentity\u201d of the club.<\/p>\n

But for the time being as long as poor results continue it will be hard for him to escape the outside noise according to Ritchie.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Luai effect is important to touch on because the numbers don\u2019t lie. Since Jarome signed with PNG, they have scored 66 points and conceded 226. That is an incredible amount,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has probably had a bit of an effect on them,\u201d Tallis added.<\/p>\n

\u201c… Since he has made the call, they just are not playing the same. There was a lot of energy about them a month ago.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The \u201cincredible\u201d numbers behind the Tigers\u2019 decline since Jarome Luai signed with the Chiefs have been laid bare,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":723310,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-723309","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\/723309","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=723309"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/723309\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/723310"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=723309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=723309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=723309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}