Jarome Luai appears the latest target who has surfaced on Parramatta's radar. The Tigers half who is already on his way to the PNG Chiefs for 2028 is on the look out for a 1 year deal as Wests make room in their salary cap.
The position of 5/8 has been a conundrum for Eels head coach Jason Ryles since Dylan Brown's departure was confirmed early in the 2025 season. The likes of Dean Hawkins, Joash Papalii, Jonah Pezet and Ronald Volkman have all filled the jersey with none really nailing down their spot.
For Hawkins, he has taken his trade to the Super League, Papalii remains a fullback capable of slotting into the halves, Pezet himself is on a single year deal before heading to Brisbane while Volkman is the only one you would say has the potential to take the jersey.
In the lower grades Lorenzo Talataina continues building his experience in NSW Cup, had his contract extended in late 2025 to the end of 2028. The 2025 SG Ball player of the year has seen himself embedded in Cup since mid-2025, producing 13 try assists in 21 matches.
Turning 20 this season, Talataina is early in his halves journey and Jason Ryles has been adamant he won't throw young players to the wolves for the sake of it. In many ways his development pathway could be considered similar to that of Eels fullback Isaiah Iongi, who plied his tried for nearly 50 games in Penrith's NSW Cup side before making the move east. He slotted straight into first grade and hasn't looked back.
Unlike Penrith though, the Eels have an open slot in the six jersey in the years to come.
This brings me to the rumoured acquisition of Jarome Luai. A single year deal is not something I am keen on given the results of the Jonah Pezet signing. Give me a 2-3 year deal so we know what we're working with.
However, the player market is shifting at a rapid rate. The introduction of Perth and PNG means top line halves command even more of a premium than they did only a year ago. Your best bet is to develop them yourself which takes time and patience.
Unlike Pezet, Luai is a known quantity. He's not developing his craft. He's won 4 premierships in the halves, won an Origin series alongside Moses and is seen as a real driver of that intangible club culture. A team with both Luai and Addo-Carr would be one full of energy at the least.
There is also the development of Talataina to consider. Anyone who has watched NSW Cup this year will have seen the touches of class the young 5/8 has. He plays deep into the line using soft hands. He squares his shoulders and hips and is prepared to take a hit if it means his backrower can hit a gap at full pace. But there's also the fact he's not a big body. What teenage half is?
Lorenzo is both a known and unknown quantity. He's a local junior the club has prioritised in both extending his contracts and pushing him through the grades. But the pressure of NRL is a different beast.
Should Luai sign for a season he provides a win-now attitude with heavy experience allowing the club to continue the development of Lorenzo without being under pressure to debut him before he is ready.
The other player being tossed into the mix to join the blue and gold is firebrand prop Spencer Leniu.
The Roosters forward hasn't exactly set the world alight since he departed Penrith. He started off by racially abusing Ezra Mam and then going after Johnathan Thurston before being underwhelming in the 2025 Origin series.
This season he's managed 11 matches, mostly coming off the bench.
And interestingly, the bench is where he has played his best football. At Penrith he was seen as the momentum roller, coming on after James Fisher-Harris and Moses Leota had steadied the side through the opening exchanges. Leniu's hard charges and fast leg speed would either press home Penrith's advantage or could flip the script if they were behind.
With the NRL being played under V'landysball rules that is pushing us towards having big, mobile middles, Leniu is the type of forward Parramatta lack. Not to say they lack quality in the middle, especially among their juniors given the promotion of Sam Tuivaiti, the debut of Teancum Brown and the development of Ryda Talagi.
But Leniu is a different body type with a different role to play. For the right price and the right role, Leniu could be the type of middle forward the Eels can use to change momentum in matches.
The one thing I do want to point out here regarding discussions about recruitment, is that neither Leniu nor Luai were on the active market for 2027 at the start of this season. And that's the way most NRL deals actually happen. A couple of recruitment decisions from a few clubs end up spreading across multiple players and clubs.
- PNG Chiefs need a marquee half
- Luai decides he's going there in 2028 and signs deal
- Tigers want to clear 2027 cap space and talk to Luai about leaving early
- Luai and the Tigers agree he can go elsewhere in 2027
- Eels enter the discussion for 2027
One decision from one club and one player has now spread across 3 clubs and multiple players. Recruitment is not a science and as Jason Ryles mentioned, if the right player comes on the market, we're interested.
Replies
The times I've watched Lorenzo, his defence is so far off the nrl, I beg to differ if he'll be NRL ready 2028. So for mine the Laui signing to give Lorenzo time isn't locked in. Its far from that. For mine Lorenzo isn't the answer. Height wise i think he's about Trei Fuller's height around 173cm
Fletcher is a bigger body and is the fittest person at the club and is getting a start in cup this weekend so it could be Fletcher partnering Moses in 28. But fletcher and others will be able to speak to other clubs this November
The Luai signing gives the club time to see who will be ready, but we must lock down Fletcher and a few more young guys like Tuivaiti and others. Players can also be upgraded , so im hoping the million used to buy Luai isn't going to cost the club the chance to upgrade players.
The Parramatta club need a clear vision to build this club around development,. They should never lose sight of that.
Outside if internal, it also gets us through until 28. A lot of players have the same PNG idea but they only have x amount of spots. There's a lot who become available in November
I'll say this, we're going to buy a star five eight and Lorenzo won't play NRL at all.
pretty sure it wont be a million as the tigers gave him a termination payment of 300k which would void the contract
The speed of us reacting to the Luai situation is pleasing - we need to be bold and decisive.
But (there's always a buit) the fact that we are still in the hunt to have a Plan A for our spine is an incredibly large concern. If the Luai play comes off it obviously improves our current side, but it further extends the disruption of our spine and gets us no closer to consistency.
For me bigger question is "Why are we still having to make knee-jerk reactions to fill one of the most vital positions in our side?".
I agree that recruitment is not a science, but here's an analogy - when you're next walking in a busy city, try just staring at the ground in front of you and not looking ahead and see how many times per second you need to react to get out of peoples way, not trip, not run into things. Then lift your head up and scan 20m in front of you...suddenly what was a very reactive, scary, clumsy walk is now seamless and simple as you duck and weave between people and things.
Planning becomes seamless when the HORIZON is set far enough. Too far and you miss opportunities. Too close and you end up always in a knee-jerk situation. Our planning horizon sucks, or the people planning are simply incompetent.
Perth and PNG weren't surprises, the fact that we had planned so poorly and were caught with our proverbial pants down is no ones fault but our own. This situation is completely of our own making and whilst I like Luai as a talent the 1 year reactionary deal smells badly of the exact same poor planning that ended us in this mess in the first place.
Luai will improve our side (for one season) - but the fact that still we seem unable or unwilling to learn lessons and improve on our deficiences off the field is pretty disappointing. This is basically the same situation we were in with Pezet, and that has aged like milk.
Anyways, if we do land him I'll enjoy watching him and Moses play for the year, they were fun to watch in Origin.
We are in this situation because we put our eggs in the Brown basket, but were rather ambivalent when he asked to leave, despite not having someone else to take over. I think the club thought they could easily replace him, but obviously that has not been the case. As others have rightly said, our junior halves are still in development phase, and may not even be NRL-ready by 2018. These guys would have been earmarked to take over from Moses, but we are asking them to take over from Brown - or at least his interim replacements.
On another note, can we please stop comparing Luai to Pezet. The players and situations are so different. Pezet was really another backup half in the mould of Volkman and Papalii. The fact he was dropped after a could of games shows that. How did we end up with one (frequently missing) NRL half and three backups? See my first point above.
Luai and Pezet are completely different players (and levels of talent and experience), but the deal that is/was being proposed is what is similar (putting a player in a key spine position for exactly 1 season).
The deal is a similar deal with similar flaws (one year, a rebuild year). Every single year we give a player money to play for the Eels we're developing that player at our expense...unless we're gunning for a premiership why develop a player in a key position when they're destined for another team?
I think there's a reason basically no other team is using this kind of contract.
As for the eggs in one basket...yes, having only a Plan A is a bad idea especially when that idea has a lot of "ifs and buts". My issue is we're doing the same thing. It appears all our eggs are now in the Lorenzo and/or another junior basket which honestly has more "ifs and buts" about it than Dylan Browns contract did. It's even higher risk.
My biggest concern is that we are not learning lessons but repeating the same mistakes with different names in the boxes.
Spencer better not be another 1 year deal, otherwise we'll be known as the Parra Cucks. Surely we're not that desperate. If Spencer is 1y it will be world w 3.
totally agree on that one chief spencer either signs for at least 2 years or can visit centerlink
So stupid this club is a joke biggest waste of money to sign luai build on the future not 1 year contracts such a dumb club not smart at all.
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