{"id":923845,"date":"2026-10-11T04:38:19","date_gmt":"2026-10-11T04:38:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/923845\/"},"modified":"2026-10-11T04:38:19","modified_gmt":"2026-10-11T04:38:19","slug":"jarome-luai-junior-paulo-defends-new-eels-signing-amid-criticism-of-wests-tigers-exit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/923845\/","title":{"rendered":"Jarome Luai: Junior Paulo defends new Eels signing amid criticism of Wests Tigers exit"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Chris<\/p>\n

October 11, 2026 \u2014 1:41pm<\/p>\n

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AAA<\/p>\n

Hamming it up in front of more than 5000 devoted Samoa fans at Mt Druitt on Saturday, Jarome Luai was in his element.<\/p>\n

Tossing his cap into the crowd after excitedly joining his international teammates on stage, the 29-year-old was given a rapturous reception.<\/p>\n

\"JaromeJarome Luai (centre) and Junior Paulo (right) will play together for Parramatta as well as Samoa.NRL<\/p>\n

Wests Tigers supporters probably don\u2019t feel as warmly about him after his much-discussed mid-contract signing with the PNG Chiefs<\/a> and eventual exit.<\/a><\/p>\n

But Luai\u2019s new club teammate and national captain Junior Paulo has welcomed the five-eighth with open arms to Parramatta, where he will spend next season before heading to Port Moresby.<\/p>\n

There is a Samoan infusion coming at the Eels, with Spencer Leniu, Jaydn Su\u2019A and Luai joining seasoned front-rower Paulo and Ronald Volkman at their Kellyville base.<\/p>\n

Luai will only be there for a year, as Jonah Pezet was last season before linking with the Broncos, but Parramatta plan to make the most of it.<\/p>\n

\"JaromeJarome Luai\u2019s time at the Tigers did not pan out as planned.Sydney Morning Herald, Getty, NRL Images<\/p>\n

Speaking at the launch of the World Cup in Sydney, Paulo threw his support behind the four-time grand final winner, who drew headlines for flying to PNG for sponsorship appearances<\/a> while at the Tigers and for missing the club\u2019s presentation night last month.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cAs someone who knows him \u2026 he\u2019s someone that is misunderstood. He\u2019s a competitor, and I think it\u2019s probably been a bit unfair, the treatment that he\u2019s copped over recent weeks,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe hasn\u2019t done any wrong. It\u2019s just one of those things where there\u2019s always going to be someone who\u2019s opinionated. Luckily for \u2018Rome\u2019, nothing fazes him.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a reason why he\u2019s won four comps, so that\u2019s the experience we want to bring at Parramatta. We\u2019re looking forward to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"JaromeJarome Luai at the Samoa fan day on Saturday.Instagram<\/p>\n

The addition of Leniu on a four-year deal is another plus for Parramatta coach Jason Ryles.<\/p>\n

The former Penrith forward is returning to Sydney\u2019s west after winning a fourth premiership ring with the Roosters last Sunday. Leniu\u2019s devastating cameo off the bench against Newcastle helped turn the match in favour of the Roosters.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you look at those guys\u2019 resumes, there\u2019s a lot of experience that you\u2019re bringing into the team. Those guys know how to win,\u201d said Paulo, who is close to agreeing to an extension with the Eels himself following a contract standoff.<\/p>\n

\u201cSpencer has always been a firecracker \u2026 when you do it the way he did it [in the grand final] it was momentum changing for the Roosters. Luckily for us at Parra, now we get to have him on our side.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"SpencerSpencer Leniu shows off his premiership ring after the grand final.Getty Images<\/p>\n

Before then, the Eels\u2019 Samoa contingent have their eyes on the World Cup.<\/p>\n

Finalists against Australia at Old Trafford in the 2022 edition of the tournament, the quality of their squad indicates they can again contend for the cup.<\/p>\n

Aside from Luai, Leniu and Paulo, the Samoa squad features superstars such as Stephen Crichton, Brian To\u2019o and Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow as well as electric Melbourne fullback Sua Fa\u2019alogo and emerging talents such as Jermaine McEwen and Francis Manuleleua, who excelled in the Knights\u2019 run to the grand final.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Fresh<\/a><\/p>\n

Samoa begin their campaign with a group-stage game against France at CommBank Stadium on Friday night and are looking to make more history after their landmark appearance in the final four years ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe addressed it early when we got into camp that we don\u2019t want to be the team that sort of dwells on those memories, although they were very good ones,\u201d said Paulo.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to be able to build and move forward and hit the ground running in this World Cup. We want to be able to make a statement.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Close\"ChrisChris Barrett<\/a> is a senior sports reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald. He is a former South-East Asia correspondent for the Herald and The Age.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"October 11, 2026 \u2014 1:41pm Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":923846,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-923845","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\/923845","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=923845"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/923845\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/923846"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=923845"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=923845"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=923845"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}