Jarome Luai’s week has gone from bad to worse, with the Wests Tigers five-eighth facing a possible sanction for a hair-pull after his side were beaten 32-6 by the Warriors.
The Tigers’ finals hopes now hang by a thread after Friday’s defeat in front of 10,445 at Campbelltown Sports Stadium, which came a little more than 24 hours after it emerged that Luai was told by the club he could find a new home for next season.
In April Luai signed with the PNG Chiefs for 2028, and the Tigers were adamant his pending exit wouldn’t derail their 2026 season.
Know the news with the 7NEWS app: Download today
But since their five-eighth agreed terms with PNG, the Tigers have imploded and the loss to the Warriors means Benji Marshall’s men have now lost eight of their past 10 games.
“We’re not going to talk about that today,” Marshall said when asked about Luai’s next move in a terse press conference.
“That can come up at another time and place.
“We just wanted to get through the game, process that, but like with a lot of those things, you can’t control what comes out or what gets said.”
Luai could face further pain on Saturday morning if he is charged by the NRL’s match review committee for a hair-pull on Warriors centre Ali Leiataua that went unpunished by referee Wyatt Raymond.
So too could Tigers prop Bunty Afoa, who was sin-binned for a late shot on Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad.
Luai was at fault for the Warriors’ opening try as he was trampled by former Penrith teammate James Fisher-Harris on his way over the line.
Fisher-Harris laughed in Luai’s face as he celebrated his try, before Afoa’s sin-binning allowed the Warriors to push further ahead through tries to Adam Pompey and Alofiana Khan-Pereira.
Pompey only kicked his first conversion attempt and as a result when Samuela Fainu dived on an Adam Doueihi grubber kick to score, the Warriors only led 14-6 at halftime.
But the Tigers’ hopes of cutting that gap took a turn for the worse when centre Starford Toa failed to return because of a suspected groin injury.
Khan-Pereira added his second of the night in the 50th minute, and after being handed kicking duties Chanel Harris-Tavita nudged his first attempt from the sideline.
Wayde Egan and Sam Healey strengthened the Warriors’ lead as Andrew Webster’s side kept their minor premiership ambitions alive.
The Warriors have a favourable draw through July and look the closest challengers to Penrith’s hopes of finishing the regular season in first spot on the NRL ladder.
“We definitely lost our way at different stages,” Webster said.
“But we want to keep mounting pressure and putting fatigue into the opposition, and I thought, while we weren’t capitalising on everything, we were still doing that.”
