Jarome Luai this week made a point of telling his Wests Tigers teammates he was “committed” to the club after his father took to social media to suggest his son was about to exit the club early.
Tigers fans were still trying to process the 64-0 hammering from the Melbourne Storm on Sunday when Martin Luai posted a message on Instagram that read: “Get out clause activated.”
The post was quickly deleted, and Martin made light of the situation the following day, saying in a fresh post that “my wife has banned me from further banter on Insta”.
Luai last year signed a $6 million, five-year deal with the Tigers, but with a clause that allows him to leave at the end of 2026, and become a free agent from November 1, if he so chooses.
Marshall said the matter was quickly addressed internally, and the external noise was nothing new to the Tigers.
Jarome Luai shares a joke with Tigers coach Benji Marshall.Credit: Getty Images
“Sometimes you don’t realise everyone’s following you [on social media] when you’re a parent or a family member – those things happen, but we’ve addressed that stuff internally,” Marshall said on Friday.
“At the end of the day, everyone has emotions and feelings. Jarome is committed to the team, and he’s made that clear to the team.”
Responding to suggestions that the post added to the fans’ angst, Marshall said: “We’re an easy target for stuff like that when you lose like that. It comes with there territory. It comes with who he [Luai] is and what he is at our club.
Jarome Luai and his father’s Instagram postCredit: Getty/Instagram/Aresna Villanueva
“His job is to play footy, and we need him to do that this week.
“The thing I always stress to the players is we can’t control that. That [post] is not directly involved with the team or within our four walls.
“The things you can’t control you just have to flush. If you’re in here, you know what we stand for and what we’re doing.
“Externally, it creates more noise, but our club has always had noise, forever, that I can remember. You’ve just got to try and not let it be a distraction.”
Luai and the Tigers will look to bounce back against South Sydney on Sunday evening at Campbelltown. If the Tigers win, they will head in to the bye with a 6-5 start to the season.
In the wake of the thrashing by the Storm, Luai, Api Koroisau and other members of the leadership group made a point of addressing the playing group and demanding they be better.
”We know we’re better than that, it was a reality check, wake-up call, whatever you want to call it, it was definitely that. But it doesn’t define us,” Marshall said.
“That’s the main message. We’re 5-5 in our season, and there’s a lot more upside to what we can do. You just can’t push it to the side and pretend it didn’t happen, otherwise you don’t learn from it.
“For us, it’s learning things we need to be better at – be embarrassed by it, hurt from it, but use that for what you do for the next week.”
Fonua Pole (knee) is out for up to six weeks, while Tallyn Da Silva has been sent back to reserve grade to get more time under his belt, especially with Koroisau getting through bigger minutes at dummy-half.
The Souths’ clash looms as one final NSW Origin audition for Luai and Terrell May.
“It’s important for every club to have as many players in rep footy as possible [because] it means you’re doing something right; if you put in enough good performances, you get those opportunities,” Marshall said.
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