Panthers five-eighth, unsigned Coach Ivan Cleary said that it would be risky for rival NRL clubs to sign Jarome Luai as a halfback for 2025 and beyond. Luai has answered in a mysterious manner.
The 26-year-old Luai is expected to get multiple offers to depart Penrith and could potentially earn over $1 million in a season.
The NRL premiers are rumored to be interested in keeping Luai for a two-year extension, but salary cap constraints will limit their ability to offer him more than $850,000 per season.
After telling reporters that it would be risky for other clubs to make a big push for Luai as their future key playmaker on Wednesday, Cleary raised eyebrows.
Panthers five-eighth, unsigned In response to coach Ivan Cleary’s assertion that signing Jarome Luai for 2025 and beyond would put other NRL teams at risk, Luai has given a cryptic response.
Naturally, he played a small part in the World Cup with Samoa last year, but overall, he has a significantly different function in this team.
“I suppose everyone [the rivals] would have to take that risk.”
Luai, a representative for the NSW Blues Origin, posted on Instagram on Thursday, allegedly in response to Cleary.
He uploaded an image on his story with the caption “know your worth” to the tune of rapper 50 Cent’s “Hustler’s Ambition,” as he was recovering from off-season surgery.
In addition, Cleary said that the pivot “knows what we think of him” and that he was “comfortable” with Luai “exploring his options.”
He remarked, “He is unquestionably one of those high-quality halves that everyone is always searching for.”
He just needs to find out what’s available, investigate, and get back to us.
We’ve been quite upfront about what we can afford. We want him to stay, and I want to be very clear about that.
“And I have a good feeling he wants to stay too.” However, as money talks, we’ll see.