Why Luai’s move to PNG has changed everything <\/a><\/p>\nJarome Luai’s decision to sign with Papua New Guinea is a showcase of the economic power behind the Chiefs and marks the start of the greatest rugby league gold rush since Super League.<\/p>\n
“Brian is an exceptional rugby league player, but this signing is about much more than football,” PNG Chiefs CEO Lorna McPherson said.<\/p>\n
“The PNG Chiefs will be a club proudly built in Papua New Guinea but with a strong Pacific identity.<\/p>\n
“Across our region, family, culture, community and rugby league are deeply connected, and Brian represents those values every time he takes the field.<\/p>\n
“He is fiercely proud of his Samoan heritage, incredibly close to his family and understands what it means to represent something bigger than yourself.<\/p>\n
“That is exactly the kind of person we want wearing the Chiefs jersey.”<\/p>\n
To’o has been a key component of the Penrith Panthers dynasty, which won four consecutive premierships from 2021\u20132024, were grand finalists in 2020 and made last year’s preliminary final.<\/p>\n
The Panthers are on top of the NRL ladder in 2026, seeking a fifth title in six years.<\/p>\n
To’o has played 151 matches for the Panthers since making his debut in 2019, scoring 99 tries to date.<\/p>\n
He has played 17 Origins for the Blues, and 11 Tests for Samoa.<\/p>\n
“Brian is an exceptional player, but he’s an even better person. He’s a great teammate, a devoted family man and someone who brings so much energy and positivity to our club every day,” Penrith coach Ivan Cleary said.<\/p>\n
“He’s been a huge part of what we’ve built here and we’re looking forward to sharing one more season with him before he begins his next chapter.”<\/p>\n
The Chiefs have now signed six players to its maiden roster, but have already secured key talent.<\/p>\n
Former Penrith five-eighth Jarome Luai, who won four premierships with To’o, was the club’s marquee signing earlier this year.<\/p>\n
Alex Johnston, the all-time leading try scorer in Australian premiership rugby league, was a key outside back signed along with NSW Origin representative Zac Lomax.<\/p>\n
Sydney Roosters utility Connor Watson and Englishman Matty Lees have also been signed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Four-time premiership-winning winger Brian To’o has become the sixth player to sign with the PNG Chiefs for their…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":849823,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[5844,64,63,50661,761,762,158,4598,234580,588,85],"class_list":["post-849822","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-abc-sport","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-brian-too","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-penrith-panthers","tag-png-chiefs","tag-sport","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/849822","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=849822"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/849822\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/849823"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=849822"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=849822"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=849822"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}