The Sydney Morning Herald<\/a> reported on Monday that some club officials only learned of this latest trip when photos of Luai at the golf tournament were posted on social media.<\/p>\nCode Sports reporter Brent Read said on NRL 360 that it was his understanding that Luai had been cleared of injury by the Tigers\u2019 medical staff and will play on Sunday against the Panthers. <\/p>\n
He also clarified that Luai and all Tigers players had two days off given they were on a long turnaround before the Penrith clash.<\/p>\n
Although fellow veteran rugby league reporter Dean Ritchie was less understanding of Luai\u2019s appearance, calling it a \u201cdisgrace\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s a disgrace that he\u2019s gone away yet again to fulfil a third party committment when he isn\u2019t essentially due there until he starts in 2028. Why are the Tigers putting up with this?\u201d Ritchie said on NRL 360.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd Parramatta, welcome to Jarome\u2019s world next year. It shouldn\u2019t be happening. The Tigers or NRL should step in. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhy is Jarome even asking? He should be going, \u2018You know what? I\u2019ve got to mentor players. I\u2019ve got another couple of weeks on his contract. I\u2019ve got one more game to go\u2019. He should be in Concord helping the young kids.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jarome Luai and Josh Armstrong.Source: Instagram<\/p>\n
That sparked a heated debate with Read, who pointed out that Luai would not have had anything to do at the club\u2019s facilities given the players had been given Sunday and Monday off.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo you want him to go to Concord during his two days off when there are no players there? What\u2019s he going to do? Clean the gym,\u201d Read said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are a lot of players that do this. I think it\u2019s a terrible look. There are a lot of players who do this as well. They just don\u2019t get the coverage that he does.\u201d<\/p>\n
Former Tigers player Braith Anasta landed somewhere in the middle, declaring it is \u201cnot the end of the world\u201d while also conceding it is \u201cnot a good look\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I\u2019m the Tigers I wouldn\u2019t have allowed it,\u201d Anasta added.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd if I\u2019m him or even his management, I\u2019m saying, \u2018Just hold off a week. You\u2019ve signed a big deal. You\u2019ve got big third parties. I know it\u2019s the prime minister and I know it\u2019s a big deal but you\u2019re going to be there for whenever you want as long as you want for a long time now. You\u2019re representing the Wests Tigers\u2019. Show the respect to the fans and the playing group.\u201d<\/p>\n
Broncos CEO reflects on ’emotional week’ | 01:21<\/p>\n
Earlier on Monday, Fox League commentator Andrew Voss was particularly scathing of the message Luai\u2019s actions sent his current and soon-to-be teammates.<\/p>\n
\u201cJarome Luai getting paid $24,000 this week as part of his contract money by the Tigers\u2026 is he obliged to fly home with the team and the young players he has to help?\u201d Voss said on SEN Radio. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe is a leader, and yet he is going off to Papua New Guinea to a golf day. <\/p>\n
\u201cJarome, your duty with the Tigers basically end after next Sunday. You can do whatever you like\u2026 but you can\u2019t be doing that. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s not just a case of optics not looking good. That\u2019s not a go. <\/p>\n
\u201cI am absolutely stunned by that. What are Parramatta thinking? What arrangement do Parramatta have with Jarome Luai and all these commitments to PNG?\u201d<\/p>\n
Sam Walker injury has a ‘silver lining’ | 01:20<\/p>\n
Premiership-winning halfback Cooper Cronk shared similar frustrations last month<\/a> after it was first revealed that Luai had signed a deal to become the face of Pepsi in PNG.<\/p>\nAs part of that deal, Luai will be required to travel to PNG a few times throughout the 2027 season despite being contracted to the Eels.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not sure how the NRL can allow Jarome Luai to be contracted to the Tigers or Eels, but he can still service a third party agreement that is for a contract in 2028,\u201d Cronk said on Fox League at the time.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe NRL needs to fix that up. That is not on. We\u2019re expanding and getting extra teams in the competition. You cannot have a player currently contracted servicing an agreement that\u2019s expected to happen in 12 months\u2019 time. Not on.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jarome Luai\u2019s ongoing commitment to the PNG Chiefs is in the spotlight once again after the star playmaker…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":875101,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,85,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-875100","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-sports","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/875100","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=875100"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/875100\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/875101"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=875100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=875100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=875100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1788187221_268_poster-fallback.png\"\/)
<\/p>\n