With the speculation putting us in the box seat for Wests Tigers Five-Eighth and Captain, Jarome Luai, the discussion has been lack of a better word "Split". Quite honestly it is 50/50 on either side. Then you have me who can see points of both sides. Let's go through some discussion points.
How do we benefit?: Many are comparing this to the Pezet deal and how that did not work. If anything this would have been the dream signing for this year as a one year deal. But this is different in terms of what we get out of the one year committment. Let's be fair, like Wests with the options to get Luai, it is unlikely unless a stop over that we ever get close to Luai at Parramatta. But having him here adds value as soon as he is in the building. Unlike Pezet who is here to make sure toddlers of the future are ready soon, he himself is a toddler in footy terms. He was more of a plug filler than a mentor. Luai is a mentor as well a plug filler. He is a 4x premiership winner, played Origin and was a part of Samoa making the 2022 WC final. He has been a part of winning systems, he knows what winning looks like. He is a competitor. A big difference also for him is having a proper Halfback in Moses, one he has worked well with in the past.
Also, let's say either Talataina or Fletcher are the future 6 in 2028, it would be a better proposition to bring them in for Moses with Luai there and vice versa. Compared to right now where if Moses goes down you do not want Talataina or Fletcher pairing up with Papali'i, Pezet or Volkman. So having Luai there as that option is Moses is injured or in Origin, those two are in good hands on the field at least which helps their development into first grade. Another topic was we should keep Volkman as a back-up. I think that is a good idea, however on the other end having Fletcher play 7 in Cup all year helps massively as it gives you not one but two options in lower grades as to the future at 6. I know Cup performances are seen as important, they really aren't in the grand scheme of things. I would rather minimise the success of Cup to blood Fletcher with Talataina, then have Volkman for a year where he possibly goes elsewhere in 2028 anyway. Then you have Talataina sitting there maybe ready, maybe not.
Another element is Ryles. He has two years left on his deal. Come the end of 2027, if he has another 5-7 win season, he could be gone. With Luai, it gives you the chance to win possibly another 2-3 games. Not saying he can do that but it gives you a better chance. Those wins could be the difference of a top 8 birth or not and the difference of Ryles keeping his job for 2028 and getting an extension. Not saying he should be under the pump, but he will be.
Finally, money wise it is not a big deal for the year. We do not seem to be going massively in recruitment in terms of quantity. We have a lot of spots available for 2027 still, adding Luai for $700-900k for one year would not be a drop in a pond as it is off the books and we weren't going deep for 2027 recruiting anyway in terms of amount of signings we make. Not like we sign Leniu and think damn we could have signed two more middles instead of Luai, we aren't doing that. Now you could argue we could top up deals, well with the amount of money we have that is a lot of topping up to do. So salary should not be an issue.
How does it not benefit us: Come 2028, we could be back to square one. Moses has 2 years left after 2027, he will be 34 in 2028. Having a year with a rookie (Fletcher or Talataina) could be a write off year. Who knows maybe we could have a great 2027, take that momentum into 2028 and say Fletcher or Talataina just slip right in and go with it. But It also leads to that player only have two years of NRL before they more likely have a new Halfback along side them. Therefore that could be another short period of building. Lets say we went with Lorenzo for 2027, it is another year of footy under his belt. Another possible 20-25 games of experience.
Or we could do the approach of getting say Burton for 2028. Though fixes the issue post Moses slightly, it doesn't help giving Moses what would be his 6th combination in 4 years (Brown, Papali'i, Pezet, Volkman, Luai, Burton). Towards the end of his career continuity would be key for Moses.
One other negative, that has been brought up on the side of the Wests Tigers, is Luai could be a pied piper for players to follow to PNG. Currently, the Eels have 16 of next years top 30 off-contract in 2027. 17 if De Belin's CO is taken up. Out of those 16, you would believe the club would want to keep at least half of them or even more. Sprinkling in a few external signings and juniors into top 30. It is of those half that could be off to PNG with Luai. Is that something you want in your club, someone behind the scenes planting seeds to follow them to a new spot. We have already had two of our players, Williams and de Belin, linked to PNG. Granted, the links to PNG are inevitable for certain players and the lure is real due to the salary and unknown. But there might be some players on their radar from Luai recommendation. Trust me, Luai would be able to say to Chammas to look at a certain player to sign.
Overall, a one year deal is seen as very low risk. An issue could be a player overstaying their welcome, Matteson of late and Watmough of the past. So if Luai has a poor year, so be it he is gone. If he works, then great but we need to hope the person identified behind him works out.
Replies
Exactly.
Ideally, in 2028 Iongi, Da Silva, maybe Riley and the likes of Tuivati, Kautoga, Teancum had a year with elite halves where their games are honed and each of those youngsters either close or has passed the 50 game mark (apart from Teancum). Then if Lorenzo comes in he comes into a more experiened team.
It doesn't mean it would work but it definitely is a clear and sensible plan. And also gives us the chance to get to finals in 2027 and compete.
You want to see the best out of the Moses/Luai combo the middle third is going to have to be a hell of a lot better.
Im also interested to see if they are going to use Hopgood in a similar manner as to Walker was the last 2 seasons.We like to get our halves wider and Walker was the key to releasing our halves.
If we stay as constructed in the fowards the role Walker played is crucial to fill.
It would be fascinating to see how Hopgood is used since he was moved to Prop to simplify his game and it worked. But now do we move him back out of necessity for a ball player?
I reckon, could be wrong, that Paulo will play that Walker type role in the middle. As well as Hopgood.
Or that but I'm in 2 minds about Paulo if he stays maybe a bench player or do we just use him up as a starter.
Personally if the club don't offer him a years I think he's a PNG candidate get a year or 3 of tax free with TPAs for a guy like Paulo it's a fitting and well earned cash injection to end his career.If I were Paulo ths what I'd be angling for.
Ideally end on the rental side here and then go get his in PNG in 28 with Jerome.
Great post!
What you're missing is What does this say about our club?
Who are we and what do we stand for? If you listen to Ryles we're a young club developing our own talents. If you look at who we've tried to sign and who we've actually signed then apart from Pezet and Luai we've consistently missed our targets and also failed to retain our best (Brown, Lomax). Su'a is a good and necessary addition but he certainly wasn't first choice. We aren't an attractive destination for top tier players and / or we refuse to pay market / overs. We have a load of cash but we can't spend it because nobody wants to come here.
Does signing Luai mean we've finally cracked the player market and signed a marquee half? I don't think so. Whatever our long term strategy was a week ago it can't have had "sign Luai for 8 months" in it. Rather, it reeks of desperation. Now management can finally point to Luai as a big signing. Ryles might win more games next year. But really, what it says is that we will take you scraps for a year. We will sign someone who hates us and wants to take our players to PNG if it means we save our arses. We're willing to paper over cracks if we keep our jobs.
To me, what this says is that the bureaucrats in our front office aren't the right fit for a successful destination club.
fair comments
We are in a position where risks need to be taken unfortunately.
Luai recruiting players for PNG is something we have to watch closely. Thats why tigers cut ties with him
Not the only reason but one of the reasons.
No one from there was going png
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