{"id":792739,"date":"2026-07-11T03:48:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-11T03:48:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/792739\/"},"modified":"2026-07-11T03:48:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-11T03:48:11","slug":"caught-him-by-surprise-tigers-reveal-shock-detail-of-luais-early-exit-as-club-confirm-1-2m-call","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/792739\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Caught him by surprise\u2019: Tigers reveal shock detail of Luai\u2019s early exit as club confirm $1.2m call"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Wests Tigers will cut ties with co-captain Jarome Luai at the end of this season the club have confirmed.<\/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 stunning revelation that Luai was essentially asked to leave the club before the end of his current contract was reported in recent days.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

However, the star\u2019s pending exit was made official in a Tigers press release on Saturday, just hours after the team\u2019s heavy loss to the Warriors on Friday night.<\/p>\n

Luai originally signed a bumper five-year deal worth around $1.2 million a season to join the Tigers from 2025 but earlier this season, exercised a \u2018get-out\u2019 clause in the contract to become the PNG Chiefs\u2019 inaugural signing. <\/p>\n

That move sparked action from coach Benji Marshall and Tigers brass, who believed ripping the band-aid off a year early to plan for the future was the right move for the club.<\/p>\n

Luai will link up with the Chiefs when they enter the comp in 2028. It means the playmaker will have to find another team to sign a one-year bridging deal with before heading to Port Moresby.<\/p>\n

At this stage, the Eels are the red-hot favourites to land the four-time premiership winner.<\/p>\n

Interestingly, according to Code Sports<\/a>, the Tigers will have to pony up almost half of his contract for 2027.<\/p>\n

Tigers CEO Shaun Mielekamp admitted \u201cdifficult calls need to be made\u201d when addressing Luai\u2019s early exit.<\/p>\n

Eels eye one year deal for Luai | 02:42<\/p>\n

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\u201cI\u2019d really like to thank Jarome and his management for their approach to these discussions in recent months and their recognition of what\u2019s best for both parties moving forward,\u201d Mielekamp said via the club-issued statement.<\/p>\n

\u201c…we need to look to the future. Having Jarome\u2019s departure at the end of 2027 already confirmed, we needed to look closely at our roster and where we invest our resources with a longer-term view.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re in an industry where difficult calls need to be made at times, and we feel this is in the best interests of the Wests Tigers moving forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mielekamp expanded on these comments when speaking to Code Sports<\/a>, revealing the Tigers\u2019 decision caught Luai off guard.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt caught him by surprise but by the time he thought about it he understood where the club was coming from,\u201d Mielekamp said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a tough call and a big call… He was very professional and noble in his approach to this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Via the statement, Luai thanked the Tigers before assuring the club\u2019s passionate fanbase he hopes to end his tenure with a bang. <\/p>\n

Under strength Warriors smash Tigers | 02:51<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m grateful to everyone involved with the Club for everything over the last two seasons,\u201d Luai said.<\/p>\n

\u201cShaun, Benji, the coaches, the staff and my brothers out on the field. We\u2019ve laid some strong foundations together. I look forward to seeing this group continue to grow and bring success to the Wests Tigers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe focus now is on my game and helping this group finish the season strongly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Coach Benji Marshall refused to touch on Luai\u2019s pending exit<\/a> in the Tigers\u2019 post-match press conference on Friday night.<\/p>\n

However, he was quoted in the club\u2019s statement, wishing Luai and his family \u201cwell with the next chapter\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cFirstly, I want to thank Jarome for his maturity during these discussions and his team first mentality,\u201d Marshall said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got some great young halves here at the Club and we need to provide them with the best chance to grow and develop as players, which means we need to give them opportunities to test themselves at NRL level.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith Jarome leaving at the end of next season, it was going to prove a challenge for us to do that, and he didn\u2019t want to stand in the way of young players getting their opportunity and the overall journey of this group.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Wests Tigers will cut ties with co-captain Jarome Luai at the end of this season the club…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":792740,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-792739","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\/792739","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=792739"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/792739\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/792740"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=792739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=792739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=792739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}