Thorny consequences facing two NRL clubs as Jarome Luai takes the money and runs to PNG

Jarome Luai's signature is a huge feather in the cap of the PNG Chiefs after the Wests Tigers dynamo was convinced to make the seismic move by the monster after-tax salary increase and the excitement of being the face of a new franchise.

The gun half is in the enviable position of being able to trigger a one-year extension on his $1.2 million-a-season Tigers deal to keep him at Concord for 2027 and also locking in a move abroad for 2028.

Due to the NRL's notional value contract system, it's likely that PNG have at the very least matched Luai's current $1.2 million-a-season deal on the salary cap to get a contract registered. If that was the number that was agreed, Luai will bank $1.2 million every year he spends at the Chiefs, assuming his salary doesn't rise over the term of the deal.

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At the Tigers or any other Australian-based NRL club, Luai banks $670k a year with the same salary. To bank $1.2 million, he would need to sign a contract for a salary of almost $2.2 million with any club other than the Chiefs - a completely unrealistic notion.

As the saying goes, money talks, so the Tigers will ultimately live to rue their generous decision to allow Luai's management to dictate clauses in his contract that effectively make him a free agent for a period every season, resulting in his decision to quit the club with two unused years on his contract.

What Luai's exit means for the Tigers

Simply put, Luai's arrival completely changed the fortunes of the perennial wooden spooners. In his first season with the club, the four-time premiership winner led a mini revival that resulted in a 13th-placed finish.

Eight rounds into this season they sit third on 12 points - and that lofty position is an accurate reflection of their performances. Earlier this month Andrew Johns claimed they were a genuine premiership threat and were playing with the type of swagger normally associated with the NRL's big dogs.

While Benji Marshall deserves a lot of the credit for turning the team around, there's no doubting that Luai's arrival was a trigger that filled the teammates with the type of confidence you need to succeed in the NRL.

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With the 29-year-old out of the team from 2028, a lot of the magic dust will go with him. The Tigers have a roster filled with young talent that is developing nicely but Luai is the player getting paid the big bucks for a reason.

The unique structure of these deals will leave Luai in Tigers colours for the rest of this season plus all of 2027, and Billy Slater has warned of the risk that the Tigers' 2026 season could be derailed by the "circus" ignited by the PNG factor. Slater encouraged Luai to address the matter with the team, which he may or may not have now done, with 9News' Danny Weidler reporting that he has told the Tigers he is leaving. If he has only addressed management directly, he will no doubt have to look his teammates in the eye in the next 24 hours.

With the Samoan superstar as the face of the team, it has been significantly easier to make the case to other players that the club is building something special and could soon win a premiership. That argument could have helped them retain in-demand players like fullback Jahream Bula and potentially help them pay less money for mid-tier players who want to be playing for a winning team but will no longer factor into those conversations.

Luai will leave at the end of next season, just as his co-captain Api Koroisau turns 35, so it's starting to look like the club is back at the beginning of a rebuild, cruelly snatching hope of a possible premiership away from a fanbase that has suffered more than most.

The silver lining is that there are plenty of gun halves who come off contract to coincide with Luai's departure, giving the Tigers the opportunity to spend the $1.2 million they would save by losing Luai to go after Nathan Cleary, Matt Burton, Sam Walker or Blaize Talagi.

Miss out on the big names and they'll be relying on the likes of Latu Fainu and Jock Madden to take a serious step forward in the next two years.

The Perth Bears contrast

Players of the quality of Luai are few and far between, so the Chiefs have immediately trumped a Bears side that comes into the competition 12 months earlier.

Concerningly, just 10 months before they will take the field for their first NRL game, Perth have only landed one regular starter and have failed in their quest to lure a superstar.

The Bears' biggest names are Tyran Wishart, Siosifa Talakai, Nick Meaney, Scott Sorensen, Josh Curran, Liam Henry and Toby Sexton.

Of those players, only Meaney starts at NRL level every week. The rest barring Sexton, who is in the Super League, are valuable players but more often than not they start on the bench. Wishart has previously been spoken about as a potential Origin utility and Talakai has already filled a bench role for the Blues but the reality is that all of those players are going to the Bears for the opportunity to play more substantial roles. A spine of Meaney, Wishart, Sexton and a yet-to-be-signed hooker lacks X-factor and at this stage it looks unlikely that they'll be playing behind a dominant forward pack.

Already, the Chiefs are on the cusp of announcing their first two quality signings, with the NRL's top try-scorer of all time Alex Johnston on Tuesday reportedly close to inking a deal for 2028. With Luai also on his way to PNG, the Chiefs have the makings of a lethal backline 18 months in advance of the club's first pre-season.

The Perth Bears squad, which currently has 16 players signed for next season, makes for a concerning contrast, but the recent dramas that have led to the head of football's departure and have left question marks hanging over the decision to hire Mal Meninga as the foundation coach are equally worrying.

According to senior Nine reporter Danny Weidler's column in The Sydney Morning Herald on Sunday, the NRL has cooled its enthusiasm for Meninga, and Peter V'landys and co. must be starting to wonder how the Bears can become competitive in their early years.

Nominally, Perth should be a more attractive place for NRL players to move to than Papua New Guinea, with its beaches and high-quality lifestyle, but tax-free incomes appear to be swinging the pendulum in the Chiefs' favour.

Luai's signature is a huge coup for the Chiefs but it also underlines the Bears' struggle to attract players and turns the focus on the NRL's next team, which is starting to feel like an unloved child.