Jarome Luai has returned to Penrith after his $6 million decision to join Wests Tigers, completing his first full training session in three months to begin his final campaign as a Panther.
As interim Tigers CEO Shane Richardson declared Luai will be the “face of the club” and likened his Concord arrival next year to that of Greg Inglis landing at South Sydney in 2011, Luai was all smiles as he joined his teammates on the paddock again on Thursday.
Luai was a conspicuous absentee before Christmas, telling Penrith he needed time away from the club after news of his decision to leave the three-time premiers was broken by this masthead in mid-December.
The 26-year-old was upset at how he perceived that news became public at the time, describing the drama as “a misunderstanding” during his NBA-esque, personally scheduled press conference on Wednesday.
Having confirmed his move to the Tigers on a five-year-deal worth around $1.2 million a season from 2025, Luai took part in a gruelling series of cardio and running tests that welcomed Penrith players back from their Christmas break.
Luai has been recovering from shoulder surgery after suffering what Panthers physio Peter Green recently described as a “hamburger with the lot” injury – requiring repairs to a labral tear and his biceps and rotator-cuff tendons.
Jarome Luai putting in the work at Penrith on Thursday.Credit: Dom Tupper/Panthers media
The star five-eighth is not expected to begin contact work until much closer to round 1, and is no certainty to feature in Penrith’s World Club Challenge trip to face St Helens in late February.
Thursday’s progress on the paddock comes after Luai stressed that he hoped to leave his junior club with a historic fourth premiership ring and that he didn’t want his contract call “to get in the way of that relationship” with coach Ivan Cleary.
Across town, Richardson was spruiking Luai’s signing for 2025 as a “game changer”.
The veteran administrator has led several rebuilds during a lengthy career in the game, none bigger than the revival at South Sydney that delivered the foundation club’s first premiership in 43 years.
Jarome Luai and coach Ivan Cleary after Penrith’s 2023 grand final triumph.Credit: Getty
Richardson can see the parallels between Luai and Rabbitohs great Roy Asotasi, whose signing from Canterbury in 2007 was seen as a significant turning point in Souths’ bid to lure topline talent to Redfern.
But he likened the Tigers’ signing of Luai – coming off back-to-back wooden spoons – to when the Rabbitohs landed Inglis after the Storm’s salary cap scandal forced him out of Melbourne.
“Roy was a major part of the statement of the rebuilding of Souths,” Richardson told SEN radio. “He came on board in a similar situation to what Jarome has … But the better example is when we landed Greg Inglis. We were on the cusp when we landed Greg Inglis.
“The statement he made going to us instead Brisbane was massive for where we were as a club. From then on, we never looked back.”
Rookie coach Benji Marshall sold Luai on being the Tigers chief playmaker and after facing a dearth of halves late last season, the joint-venture now has youngsters Latu Fainu, Jayden Sullivan (signed until the end of 2027) and Lachlan Galvin (2026) alongside free agents Adam Doueihi and Aidan Sezer.
Richardson dismissed suggestions of a playmaking logjam emerging, saying the Tigers simply had to go all out to sign a player of Luai’s calibre.
“We just had to get him,” Richardson said. “Every team needs and requires a player who can change the game.
“They are very few and far between and they are like diamonds when they come up because it’s rare when they do. He wants to be the face of the club and the face of the west and you couldn’t have a better person to reflect today’s generation than Jarome.”
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