Brad Fittler's huge call on Jarome Luai amid $6 million deal with Wests Tigers

Brad Fittler is confident that Jarome Luai will be a success at the Wests Tigers and can build a formidable partnership with former Panthers teammate Api Koroisau. The ex-Blues coach handed Luai his Origin debut and believes he will be worth every bit of the $1.2 million a season he is set to be paid.

Luai has reportedly told teammates he intends to take up the Wests Tigers' $6 million deal over five years, at the end of the 2024 NRL season. Panthers coach Ivan Cleary warned clubs off Luai in the offseason, cautioning rivals that they would be taking a big gamble on the five-eighth which led to Luai posting "know your worth" on Instagram.

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Since informing the Panthers on Saturday that he intends to accept the Tigers' offer, Luai failed to show up to training on Monday as tensions simmered with his representatives asking the Panthers for the week off from training, a request granted by the club. Despite rumours the playmaker is growing discontent at Penrith, the Panthers CEO confirmed on Wednesday that he would not be allowed to leave for the Tigers a year early.

The three-time premiership winner must then wait another season before pulling on the orange and black and when he does Fittler believes he can make a big impact at the club and even move into the halfback role. "I think (Luai) thrives on people suggesting he can’t do something. I'd suggest he’ll find a way to do it. He puts up with a lot, Jarome, and he seems to have that ability to use it to push himself," Fittler told the Sydney Morning Herald.

"You do have to tick certain game management boxes but as long as your playmaking spine, between the three of you, has them covered, there’s no reason why (Luai) couldn’t be a halfback. If you look at Api in particular, so much of their game is played off him, and he can do what it might take other teams two players to do, that freeing-the-ruck-up side of things.

"Api can do that pretty much on his own. I think it’s about having a group or a spine of players to get those basics right more than just one player." Nathan Cleary takes on most of the chief playmaking duties for the Panthers but Luai has thrived when he has taken the reins, previously stating that he "relished" the chance to control the sets when he represented Samoa at last year's World Cup.

Wests Tigers interim CEO sings Jarome Luai praises

Interim Wests Tigers CEO Shane Richardson, says he has long been an admirer of the five-eighth, having previously tried to sign the 26-year-old at the Rabbitohs. "I've made my feelings on Luai well-known for a long while. In my opinion, he was the best young half coming through,” Richardson said.

"He's proven at the highest level he was the best young half coming through. Not only that, he’s a great team leader, that Penrith side revolves around Luai. He is a great person off the field despite what many media people try to make out. You couldn’t meet a better person than him and you couldn’t ask for a better person at your club."

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