Jarome Luai has found it impossible to escape all the talk about him and Nicho Hynes being locked in a ding-dong battle for the NSW No. 6 jersey.
So, you had to feel for the Panthers’ playmaker when he discovered on Friday he was about to board the same VA947 flight from Sydney to Brisbane as Hynes.
Then Luai learned he and Hynes would also be staying in the same hotel for Magic Round.
Luai concedes he is suddenly the underdog in the Blues’ halves race and will get his chance to shine for Penrith against the Warriors on Saturday afternoon. Hynes and the Sharks will take centre stage immediately afterwards against the Dolphins.
Luai was grateful to be in the conversation and revealed he and Hynes, both 26, had known each other since they were in school.
“We played in some combined school touch teams for NSW,” Luai told this masthead.
Jarome Luai, Nathan Cleary and Nicho Hynes.Credit: NRL Photos
“I have a pretty good friendship with Nicho. We even teamed up to beat Queensland one year.
“I’m just grateful to be in the Origin conversation. Regardless if people want me in or out of the side, I’m in the conversation, and all I can control is what I do on the field.
“I haven’t heard from Freddy [coach Brad Fittler]. He lets us do our thing, and I like it that way.”
It will come as a surprise to most that Luai is yet to poll a single vote in the Dally M race after nine rounds. To be fair to the five-eighth, the Panthers have several big-name stars who cancel each other out when it comes to winning votes.
Jarome Luai has admitted to starting the year slowly.Credit: Getty Images
“But I have been a bit slow [to start the year], it’s a new team, a new game plan, I’m adjusting and we’re getting better every week,” Luai said.
No Panther was going to be impacted more by the loss of barnstorming back-rower Viliame Kikau than Luai, who was set up plenty of tries for Kikau, and had rivals always in two minds when running at them in defence.
“When you’ve got Nathan and Brian [To’o] in your team, they’re going to pinch most of the votes every week,” Luai said with a grin.
“I don’t look too much into the Dally Ms. We have a great team, and all I want to do is win games with my boys.”
The premiers have not lost three games in a row since the end of the 2019 season, and their four defeats this season have been by one point – twice – two points and four points.
Andrew Webster, Ivan Cleary’s assistant and Penrith’s attack coach during their title success, would love to spring a Magic Round upset with his Warriors. Luai said the Panthers still employed plenty of Webster’s tactics.
Penrith will receive a big boost with the return of inspirational prop James Fisher-Harris from a knee injury.
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