{"id":789580,"date":"2026-07-09T16:52:19","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T16:52:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/789580\/"},"modified":"2026-07-09T16:52:19","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T16:52:19","slug":"nrl-rocked-by-shock-decision-on-jarome-luai-future-as-wests-tigers-confirm-surprise-move-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/789580\/","title":{"rendered":"NRL rocked by shock decision on Jarome Luai future as Wests Tigers confirm surprise move"},"content":{"rendered":"

Parramatta Eels are reportedly the frontrunners to sign Jarome Luai after he was granted permission to leave the Wests Tigers at the end of this season.<\/p>\n

The 29-year-old, has already signed a $1.2 million deal with Papua New Guinea to become their first signing for 2028.<\/p>\n

But in a stunning twist Code Sports<\/a> revealed the Tigers are looking to move the four-time premiership winner on at the end of the 2026 season in an attempt to free up salary cap space.<\/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 took to Instagram on Thursday after the news broke, posting a picture of himself to his story captioned, \u201cGod\u2019s plan not mine\u201d.<\/p>\n

He accompanied the photo with the Rod Wave song \u201cMoving On\u201d.<\/p>\n

It is reported the Tigers met with Luai last week to inform him he was free to move on from his deal worth a reported $1.2m per season.<\/p>\n

They hope the departure of Luai will enable them to hold onto the Fainu brothers, in particular Latu Fainu who has been warming the bench for much of the 2026 season. <\/p>\n

Now the latest revelation from Code Sports<\/a> is that the Eels are in pole position to secure Luai for next season.<\/p>\n

Expansion club Perth Bears are also keen to attract Luai as a placeholder.<\/p>\n

The Samoan international left the Panthers to sign with the Tigers in 2024 on a five-year contract.<\/p>\n

The first two seasons were guaranteed, while the remaining three provided him with favourable options.<\/p>\n

Luai triggered that clause three months ago to enable him to pen a deal with PNG.<\/p>\n

The 10-day cooling off period for the deal was waived so he could remain with the Tigers for the 2027 season.<\/p>\n

\"Jarome<\/p>\n

It comes after the Tigers made a host of moves to stabilise their team following the confirmation of Luai\u2019s 2028 exit.<\/p>\n

That has included handing new contracts to Jahream Bula, Sunia Turuva, Heamasi Makasini, and the May brothers.<\/p>\n

Dolphins star Jake Averillo has also agreed to join the Tigers for the 2027 season on a four-year deal.<\/p>\n

The Tigers are languishing in 12th on the NRL ladder after three successive defeats.<\/p>\n

They face the Warriors on Friday, before games against the Bulldogs and Raiders.<\/p>\n

Luai will return to the team for Friday night\u2019s clash after missing the defeat to the Dragons due to a concussion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Parramatta Eels are reportedly the frontrunners to sign Jarome Luai after he was granted permission to leave the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":789581,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-789580","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\/789580","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=789580"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/789580\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/789581"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=789580"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=789580"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=789580"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}