{"id":798349,"date":"2026-07-13T21:28:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T21:28:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/798349\/"},"modified":"2026-07-13T21:28:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T21:28:12","slug":"nrl-news-paul-gallen-warns-parramatta-eels-against-signing-jarome-luai-for-2027-ahead-of-png-chiefs-move","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/798349\/","title":{"rendered":"NRL news: Paul Gallen warns Parramatta Eels against signing Jarome Luai for 2027, ahead of PNG Chiefs move"},"content":{"rendered":"

Paul Gallen<\/a> has warned clubs against signing the PNG-bound Jarome Luai<\/a> for 2027, declaring they would be opening their doors to the Chiefs<\/a>\u2032 \u201cNo.1 recruitment officer\u201d.<\/p>\n

But Allana Ferguson<\/a> believes the premiership-winning playmaker would be a smart signing for any club looking to better support their emerging halves and bolster their leadership qualities.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Jarome Luai.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

Wests Tigers<\/a> confirmed on Saturday that Luai would be leaving at the end of this season<\/a>, after sending shockwaves through the rugby league world by telling him he was free to find a new home a year before his move to PNG.<\/p>\n

Where the 29-year-old spends his gap year remains to be seen \u2013 but Parramatta appears to be closing in on his signature.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s likely that regardless of where he lands for 2027, the Tigers will have to subsidise some of the $1.2 million owed to him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a big fan of Jarome Luai as a player, and I think he\u2019s a great person off the field as well, and he has a lot that he can contribute to a club,\u201d Ferguson, the former Jillaroos and Blues star, said on Nine\u2019s 100% Footy on Monday night.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe can certainly help the younger halves coming through, he has some great leadership qualities that will help a club for 12 months.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s obviously not what most clubs are after, but there will be a place for him. I think he\u2019ll do a great job wherever he ends up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gallen clapped back, asking: \u201cWould you want him there?\u201c.<\/p>\n

To which Ferguson replied: \u201cWhy would you not want Jarome Luai to help a young half coming through?\u201c.<\/p>\n

In Gallen\u2019s mind, there\u2019s no doubt Luai would spend his one year in transit trying to sell the PNG dream to his 2027 teammates.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s going to be the No.1 recruitment officer for the PNG Chiefs,\u201d said the former Sharks and Blues captain.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love him, absolutely great player, I\u2019m with you.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut he\u2019s definitely, without a doubt, going to be their biggest recruitment officer. Without a doubt.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I can\u2019t blame him for that. If I\u2019m going to the PNG Chiefs, I want to get the best team possible there with me. So why wouldn\u2019t you be talking to every single person in the changing room? Why wouldn\u2019t you? I can\u2019t imagine he wouldn\u2019t be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Young playmaker Jonah Pezet will leave Parramatta<\/a> for Brisbane at season\u2019s end.<\/p>\n

The Eels have a couple of promising young halves in their system in Lincoln Fletcher and Lorenzo Talataina, but it\u2019s understood they are not quite ready for first grade.<\/p>\n

Signing Luai for 2027 would buy Parramatta another 12 months to prepare Fletcher and Talataina for the big time.<\/p>\n

Luai would reunite with Mitchell Moses<\/a> \u2013 his halves partner in the NSW Blues\u2019 successful 2024 State of Origin series \u2013 if he lobs at the Eels.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been reported Parramatta would pay about $700,000 for his services, but club legend Nathan Hindmarsh is staunchly against the idea.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou look at Parramatta at the moment. Will they be premiership contenders next year with Jarome Luai?\u201d Hindmarsh said on Triple M over the weekend.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the moment, they are improving slowly – they\u2019ve got some great young talent coming through.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think Jarome will make the difference… (Luai and Mitchell Moses) is a great halves combination. I\u2019m just saying surely you\u2019re not going to be spending $700,000 on a halfback that is going to be there for one year. A gap year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would not be wasting $700,000 or more on a half that is going to be there for a year if you\u2019re not going to be at the grand final or thereabouts. I think the money can be spent elsewhere on long-term (options).\u201d<\/p>\n

The Perth Bears<\/a>, who will enter the NRL next season, have also been floated as a one-year option for Luai before he joins the Chiefs, while Rugby Australia boss Phil Waugh told News Corp this week he would welcome Luai into the 15-man code for one year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Paul Gallen has warned clubs against signing the PNG-bound Jarome Luai for 2027, declaring they would be opening…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":798350,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-798349","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\/798349","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=798349"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/798349\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/798350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=798349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=798349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=798349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}