{"id":816166,"date":"2026-07-22T08:43:35","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T08:43:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/816166\/"},"modified":"2026-07-22T08:43:35","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T08:43:35","slug":"nrl-2026-parramatta-coach-jason-ryles-defends-jarome-luai-signing-transfers-wests-tigers-parramatta-eels-news-videos-highlights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/816166\/","title":{"rendered":"NRL 2026: Parramatta coach Jason Ryles defends Jarome Luai signing, transfers, Wests Tigers, Parramatta Eels, news, videos, highlights"},"content":{"rendered":"

Parramatta coach Jason Ryles has dismissed claims Jarome Luai\u2019s one-year deal <\/a>is a \u2018sugar hit\u2019, while also giving his players a brutal reminder of the reality they\u2019re currently in.<\/p>\n

After the Wests Tigers told Luai a fortnight ago he could leave a year early, Ryles seized the opportunity to grab the State of Origin-winning five-eighth for just $600,000 for 2027.<\/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

<\/p>\n

While that could be considered a cut-price for a four-time premiership winner, critics argued the club wasn\u2019t looking at its long-term future and could instead be blooding a young half to partner Mitchell Moses.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, the Eels coach addressed the media to further clarify his stance on Luai\u2019s short-term arrival.<\/p>\n

“Why is Ryles protected in Sydney?” | 03:27<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen a player like Jarome comes up, with the age of our spine, and to give Mitchell a hand going forward and help us win now, and prepare our next crew coming through, we see that as the best option for our footy club,\u201d Ryles said. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe have got younger players coming through our pathways that may be ready in 12 months, but this gives them an extra bit of time to get their reps in (NSW) Cup and learn off a true pro that\u2019s won a lot of premierships.<\/p>\n

\u201cI see it as a win-win for us. People will have their opinions on what we\u2019ve done, but this is what I see is best for us going forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ryles proud despite missed chances | 05:29<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also been suggested that some Parramatta players might not be happy to have Luai for just one season before he moves on to the PNG Chiefs in 2028.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, Eels halfback Mitchell Moses didn\u2019t do anything to suggest everything was perfect regarding the Luai signature <\/a>as he refused to talk about the signing.<\/p>\n

When asked if Luai\u2019s arrival could cause angst among some in the players, Ryles gave a reminder to his playing group.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re sitting in a spot on the ladder (15th) at the moment where we don\u2019t want to be, and it\u2019s no-one\u2019s fault directly, but we need more experienced players and Jarome fits that bill,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re all excited about Jarome\u2019s arrival. He brings a lot of experience to our spine and he\u2019s a competitor, and (with) all the background we\u2019ve done on him, he\u2019s very big on his training standards and his extras.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will be great for our younger guys to see that and watch it in action first-hand.\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

Jason Ryles defends Parramatta\u2019s move to sign Jarome Luai for just one seasonSource: FOX SPORTS<\/p>\n

Ryles argued the club was still thinking long-term with its spine by signing young players like fullback Isaiah Iongi and hookers Ryley Smith and Tallyn Da Silva.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve taken a long-term view on what we\u2019re doing. We\u2019ve gone long-term with Izzy (Isaiah Iongi). He started with three years, now he\u2019s in for five years,\u201d Ryles said. <\/p>\n

\u201cRyley Smith jumped out of the ground and we extended his contract and then Tallyn Da Silva became available as well and we saw an opportunity to put him on for four years as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ryles also said comparisons to Luai\u2019s one-year deal and Jonah Pezet\u2019s in 2026 weren\u2019t fair given one is an up-and-coming first-grader and the other is a four-time premiership winner.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a bit of difference there,\u201d Ryles said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Parramatta coach Jason Ryles has dismissed claims Jarome Luai\u2019s one-year deal is a \u2018sugar hit\u2019, while also giving…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":816167,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-816166","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\/816166","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=816166"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/816166\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/816167"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=816166"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=816166"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=816166"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}