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‘He belongs with us’: Cleary bullish on Panthers’ hopes of keeping Luai
Christian Nicolussi
Jarome Luai is expected to fetch $1 million on the open market, but Penrith coach Ivan Cleary is backing the premiers to retain the representative five-eighth.
“He belongs with us, we belong with him – it’s a good fit,” Cleary told this masthead. “It’s like a lot of our boys: if he really wanted to get as much money as he wanted to [elsewhere], he would probably get it. But I think we can come up with something that’s very good for him. It’s a good fit.”
In his breakout season as Broncos fullback, Reece Walsh has been on the receiving of plenty of criticism. He says he dealt with it by surrounding himself with those closest to him.
Luai said after his return from a dislocated shoulder last Friday night he had put all contract negotiations on hold until after the grand final.
He remains the last big-name Panther without a deal beyond 2024 after fullback Dylan Edwards inked a four-year extension worth about $3.4 million that keeps him at the club until the end of 2028.
Nathan Cleary, who earns about $1.3 million a year, is already signed until the end of 2027, as is Liam Martin ($750,000) and Isaah Yeo ($850,000), while James Fisher-Harris ($950,000) is contracted until the end of 2026.
The Panthers are yet to formally table a deal to Luai, but this masthead reported earlier this month they had already told their five-eighth they would only be able to offer a deal of about $750,000.
With Luai likely to command a four-year deal worth $1 million a season elsewhere – a reasonable figure, according to plenty of good judges in the game, including Andrew Johns – the playmaker, who has a young family, could potentially be turning his back on an extra $1m by staying at the Panthers for the same period.
The premiers, however, are chasing a third straight title on Sunday, have the roster to keep pushing for silverware in the coming years and can offer Luai the chance to simply be himself without the added pressure of having to direct the team around the park.
Luai has split with management company SFX, and can officially align with a rival company in the middle of next month. The Panthers will waste no time trying to retain the playmaker who has spent more than a decade in the halves with Cleary.
After surviving a few big hits against the Storm, Luai said of his negotiations: “It is [on the backburner]. I think it was important to make that call. You don’t come by grand finals [often], and you want to limit your distractions. I’m fully focused on what I need to do for this next week, and making sure my mind is right and my body is right.
“I’ve had a great year, and a great time with this group. This is what you work towards all year. I won’t get too caught up in the stars about it and worrying about what ifs. I’ll worry about enjoying this moment and getting back to work on Monday.”
‘He belongs with us’: Cleary bullish on Panthers’ hopes of keeping Luai
Premiership five-eighth could fetch $1m on the open market, but Penrith coach Ivan Cleary knows the playmaker and Penrith are “a good fit”.
