Koroisau begged Luai to join the Tigers after ‘taxing’ first year as skipper.
Late last year, the man in charge of leading the Tigers couldn’t help himself when the club was courting his old teammate, Jarome Luai.
Api Koroisau picked up his phone and told Luai, in not too subtle terms, what he thought about the Panthers star weighing up a club record offer to join the Tigers.
“I messaged him saying we needed him,” Koroisau laughs.
And after that?
“At the end of the day, I just kept asking him, ‘Are you coming? Are you coming? Are you coming?’ I think [coach] Benji [Marshall] put in the hard yards there.”
Luai is coming.
He will do so on
five-year deal worth more than $6 million, and none are more pleased than the Tigers captain, who will be reunited with his old friend at Penrith in 2025. But that’s then, and Koroisau is about the now.
“Everyone is excited about Romey coming, obviously the calibre of player he is,” Koroisau said. “We’re all excited. But at the same time we’ve been trying to not think too much about it.”
Koroisau left the Panthers after back-to-back premierships in 2022 to join the Tigers. Try as he might, couldn’t lift them off the bottom of the ladder last year.
Without question, he was the club’s most influential player in a rotten season which saw them lose their first seven matches, their coach Tim Sheens by the end of the campaign and their entire board and chief executive before Christmas. That the captain was spared wasn’t a coincidence.
He knew he was going to have to shoulder a big responsibility, but never did Koroisau think that would include playing halfback and kicking goals in the final rounds of 2023.
“It was tough,” Koroisau says. “By the back end, you can’t say or do any more. “The hardest thing was the boys were trying. It had nothing do with effort areas. For me, it was just about doing what I can do and trying to be positive. We knew early on it wasn’t going great. By the back end it was really taxing. I just tried to be there for everyone.
“I enjoyed halfback. You don’t have to do as much tackling, but I don’t think I like the responsibility of trying to call the plays. That’s not me. Pass the ball off the deck is a super easy job for me.”
The Tigers’ long and slow climb back up the NRL ladder will begin in Canberra on Saturday when Koroisau leads Marshall’s team in their first competition match of 2024 against the Raiders. They had the bye in the opening round.
Over summer, Koroisau has already been enthused by the Tigers’ young talents Lachlan Galvin, Heath Mason and Tallyn Da Silva. And a rookie coach in Marshall.
“He’s very honest,” Koroisau says. “That’s just how his personality is. He’s very up front and doesn’t beat around the bush. If he thinks something is up, he will tell you how it is. That’s even if he’s not your coach. That’s a very good quality to have. Everyone knows exactly where they stand with Benji.”
In a disastrous year which cost the club their board, chief executive and coach, only the captain is still standing. He knew an old teammate was crucial to the Tigers’ renaissance.
www.smh.com.au
www.foxsports.com.au
