Alarming departure lounge tied to decade of broken Tigers dreams
Updated . First published
Wests Tigers fans will once again be wondering what’s gone wrong in a season that promised so much but will now deliver only heartache.
The club will make it a 15th consecutive year without playing NRL finals and a blossoming list rebuild has been thrown into turmoil with the impending departure of Jarome Luai just two seasons into a five-year deal.
Adam Doueihi and his Tigers will miss finals for a 15th straight year. Getty Images
On top of that, Adam Doueihi’s future at Concord is as clear as mud despite peace talks on Monday that will reportedly see him play out the season at the Tigers.
Whether he sees out his contract, which runs to the end of 2029, remains to be seen.
The premature Luai exit continues a trend of players leaving the Tigers while still at their peak, or close to it, and going to an NRL rival.
Many of them have gone on to enjoy great success at other clubs.
We’ve compiled a full team of players who have left the Tigers since their last finals appearance in 2011, highlighting some of the lost talent.
Warning: Long-suffering Tigers fans may find the following material distressing.
1. James Tedesco
Began his Tigers career in 2012 and played 90 games over six seasons, but was cruelled by a string of injuries and eventually left in 2017 to join the Roosters, where he has won two premierships, two Dally M Medals, captained his state and country and has arguably been the best fullback of his generation.
2. Josh Addo-Carr
The man known as The Foxx joined the Tigers on a one-year contract in 2016 and played nine NRL games, but somehow slipped through the club’s fingers and was snapped up by the Storm. He went on to win two premierships with Melbourne and become one of the best wingers in the NRL, playing for his state and country before stints at the Bulldogs and now Eels.
3. Moses Suli
The hulking teenager signed a record $1.3m deal with the Tigers in 2017, becoming the richest kid yet to play first grade. But that deal was struck on potential, and Suli was cut loose the following year amid reports of laziness, a bad attitude and sleeping in cars during training sessions. After a failed stint at the Bulldogs he has since played for the Sea Eagles and Dragons, as well as 10 representative games for Tonga.
4. Ryan Papenhuyzen
The speedy utility back was a Tigers junior but was denied an NRL debut by the club given they wanted to keep Tedesco - which, as mentioned above, didn’t happen. Papenhuyzen was instead picked up by the Storm where he went on to play 113 games and won a Clive Churchill Medal in the victorious 2020 grand final.
5. Marika Koroibete
The Fijian flyer burst into the NRL in 2012, scoring four tries in his second game of first grade for the Tigers late in the season, and scoring seven times in six outings to finish the year. Injuries restricted him to just nine games in 2013, although he was still a try-scoring machine when he did play, but then midway through 2014 he was suddenly cut by the Tigers and picked up by the Storm. After 58 games and 34 tries for Melbourne, Koroibete switched to rugby and became one of the best Wallabies wingers of the past decade.
6. Jarome Luai
Won four premierships with Penrith before signing with the Tigers on a bumper five-year deal reportedly worth $1.2 million a season. But Luai will only play two of those seasons for the Tigers, with the club cutting him loose after signing a deal to join Papua New Guinea in 2028. Luai will spend 2027 at the Tigers’ western Sydney rivals, Parramatta.
7. Mitchell Moses
Alongside Tedesco, Aaron Woods and Luke Brooks, Moses was part of the club’s famed Big Four that got stuck in a contract circus in 2017, and resulted in all but Brooks leaving. Moses was the first domino to fall, gaining an immediate release mid-season to join the Eels where he has remained since.
8. Aaron Woods
The towering prop played 146 NRL games for the Tigers and was captain of the club in 2017 before deciding to quit and sign with the Bulldogs, joining Moses and Tedesco at the exit door. Woods later admitted he was “not proud” of how he handled his exit from Concord.
Aaron Woods and James Tedesco both left the Tigers in 2017. ninemsn\Patrick.effeney
9. Robbie Farah
One of the 2005 premiership stars who played a whopping 247 games for the Tigers and was still a NSW Origin representative when he fell out with coach Jason Taylor in 2016, spending half the NRL season playing reserve grade. Farah left his beloved Tigers to play for the Rabbitohs, before returning two years later to finish his career in the orange and black.
10. Andrew Fifita
The hulking western Sydney product was a promising junior who debuted for the Tigers in 2010, before being dropped to the bench by Tim Sheens in 2011 and being forced out of the club to make salary cap space for Adam Blair. Fifita went to the Sharks where he played 213 games, represented NSW and Australia, and was the best player on the field (although not the Clive Churchill Medal winner) in the 2016 grand final victory over Melbourne.
11. John Bateman
The English international became one of the game’s best backrowers during two seasons with Canberra in 2019-20, before heading home to play in the Super League briefly and then returning to the NRL with the Tigers. Bateman failed to live up to the hype in his second Australian stint, managing 32 games in two seasons before being sent back to England on loan to Wigan. The Tigers then granted him a release midway through his four-year deal to join the Cowboys.
12. Luciano Leilua
The hulking backrower played 56 games in three seasons for the Tigers before asking for an immediate release in 2022 to join the Cowboys. He blamed Tigers hierarchy for his swift departure, saying, “I did take it hard, it was a bit disappointing. I guess the board and those guys up there wanted me out. I don’t know why”.
13. Ryan Matterson
He was one of the most promising young forwards in the league when he inked a three-year deal with the Tigers fresh off winning the 2018 NRL grand final with the Roosters. But Matterson would only fulfil one year of that deal at Concord, being granted leave during the 2019 season for personal reasons and then quitting the club to join the Eels. He went on to play Origin for NSW in 2022.
14. Lachlan Galvin
He was the most talked-about teenager in rugby league when he debuted for the Tigers in 2024, with the hype around him reminiscent of what Luke Brooks and Mitchell Moses had experienced a decade earlier. But in 2025 Galvin was at the centre of the ugliest contract dispute in years, with his controversial agent Isaac Moses agitating for a release and the teen eventually heading to the Bulldogs after falling out with his Tigers coach and teammates.
15. Shawn Blore
He was a talented Panthers junior but jumped ship to the Tigers to begin his NRL career in 2020. Injuries cruelled his time at Concord before the Tigers sent him to Melbourne in a swap deal with centre Justin Olam, whose NRL career ended shortly after and left most of his three-year contract unfulfilled. Blore, meantime, went from a Tigers wooden spooner to playing consecutive NRL grand finals in his first two seasons with the Storm.
16. Stefano Utoikamanu
The hulking forward was playing for Parramatta when he signed a three-year deal with the Tigers and joined them in 2021. He was one of the most highly touted emerging props in the game, making his Origin debut for NSW in 2023 before leaving the club to join Melbourne after collecting three consecutive wooden spoons with the Tigers.
17. Chris Heighington
The tough forward began his career at the Tigers in 2003, winning the 2005 premiership and then giving an infamous expletive-laden interview, which the club was forced to apologise for. Heighington was once described by Benji Marshall as the “heart and soul” of the club but he was controversially cut loose in 2012, declaring at the time, “I thought I would be a one-team player but, at the end of the day, if the coach doesn’t want you, he doesn’t want you”. Heightington moved to the Sharks where he played 116 games and won the 2016 premiership, before finishing his career with a season at the Knights.
