Jarome Luai has wasted no time moving to his new club Parramatta, training alongside Mitchell Moses and Junior Paulo at the Eels Centre of Excellence.
The high-profile playmaker has been working alongside fellow World Cup hopefuls from the Eels at the club’s high performance facility at Kellyville less than three-weeks after his last match for the Wests Tigers.
Eels officials wouldn’t speak on the record about Luai being inside the building because he isn’t officially a contracted player with the club until November 1.
However, club officials confirmed the 29-year-old trained both last week and on Monday, alongside about 20 Parramatta players, including Moses and Paulo, who are both continuing to train ahead of rugby league’s upcoming World Cup.
Luai is eager to maintain his fitness ahead of captaining Samoa in the World Cup which begins on October 15 in Sydney.
The 29-year-old has signed a 12-month contract with the Eels for 2027.
After another poor season finishing 13th, Parramatta coach Jason Ryles is excited by the prospect of success with Luai partnering Moses, the club captain, in the halves next season.
Once Luai’s 12-month stint is over, the Samoan international will link with the PNG Chiefs in 2028 and 2029, with an option for a third year in 2030.
He has been heralded as the face of the Chiefs ahead of their inaugural season in the NRL competition.
Luai’s tumultuous two seasons with the Wests Tigers ended earlier this month with a final season round loss to the Panthers.
His acrimonious exit from the Wests Tigers included missing the club’s official end-of-season presentation night to instead attend commitments for Samoa.
There were split opinions and debate across the game about whether Luai should have attended the formal awards night.
Luai’s 2027 season with the Eels will be one of the most discussed stories next year, which begins with Parramatta launching their season against the Gold Coast Titans in Las Vegas.
He was signed by the Eels after being released from the final year of his contract with the Wests Tigers in 2027.
With a desire to plan for the future without Luai, the Wests Tigers also feared his focus would be compromised by third-party sponsorship deals with the Chiefs that he would need to facilitate during the 2027 season.
The Eels are paying around $650,000 for Luai in 2027, with the Wests Tigers covering the remainder of his $1.1 million deal slated for next year.
Such was the strong form Ronald Volkman finished the season with, several judges suggested he should start alongside Moses in the Eels halves to begin next season with Luai commencing his Parramatta career from the bench.
The end-of-season World Cup will also allow Luai and Moses to form a limited pre-season preparation due to their mandatory time off required after the tournament.
Luai is aiming to lead a strong Samoan squad to the World Cup final, which includes Paulo, who is discussing a new one-year deal with the Eels.
Replies
It was nice of Luai to show MON and the lads what a premiership ring looks like. MON is obviously unimpressed as he has his on hold down at Cash Converters whenever he wants to get it out of hock. The 42% interest is killing him.
MON would reply "that's not impressive, look at this" as he unzips his suit pants.
Needs to acclimate quickly he's here for a short time so getting upto speed is imoerstive to maximise his value and short stay.
Keeping himself fit for Samoa?
I just keep thinking about how good Volkman was to end the year.
What if 4 games in Luai is playing like he was at tigers and Volkman is carving up in NSW Cup, will Ryles be able to make the tough decisions? Time will tell.
The Moses/Luai NSW combo is exciting though, if they can find form together could be a great season.