Jarome Luia is one of the most successful Rugby League players we have seen over the last 40 years.
A four time Premiership winner, a winner at State Of Origin level, he led Samoa to a World Cup Final…..he has a win percentage of 81.68% in the NRL and he is just 27 years old.
Luai goes from being part of the greatest team since the great St George Dragons teams of the 50s and 60’s to the worst clubs in the competition in the Wests Tigers. The Challenge couldn’t be bigger, and you get the feeling it is one he is actually relishing.
Luai haș already spoken glowingly of Tigers youngster Lachlan Galvin. He joins former teammate Api Koroisau, a champion player himself. He joins the Tigers alongside fellow Premiership winning Sunia Turuva, but there is no doubt that the day he walks in the door, Luai will be the leader, the main voice at the club….he will be the man!
The Penrith Panthers success has come from many different aspects coming together, but one of the main ones is the way players at the club themselves drive standards. When Luai arrives at the Tigers, he will demand nothing less than the same from his new teammates….keep in mind, he knows no different himself! To Luai, that IS what being an NRL player is.
Wests Tigers players, and even the coaching staff need to embrace the new standards that Luai will be demanding of his teammates. That is why they paid him the big bucks, to turn this club around.
Some players won’t be up to the task. It even happened at Penrith when this special group of players came through, some players just couldn’t go with them and had to be moved on. Its a tough process, but is part of the process you go through to win.
The Wests Tigers are so lucky to have such a champion player, and person joining their club. As a Panthers supporter, I’m excited for them. I’m excited to see how Luai changed the Wests Tigers club on and off the field. I’m excited to see the process of seeing what happens when a modern day great joins a club in need and just changes the whole place.
