Why Tigers’ boardroom turmoil might actually help their pursuit of Luai

The sensational over-throwing of the Wests Tigers board on Tuesday will not necessarily end the club’s hopes of signing Jarome Luai – and there are a few good reasons why.

The Tigers have tabled a four-year, $4.5 million offer to Penrith’s three-time premiership winner, and, as of late Monday, the now-former chief executive Justin Pascoe was expecting an answer before Christmas.

The latest boardroom turmoil would not have been lost on Luai, who received assurances on more than one occasion the worst was behind the Tigers.

But what fans may not realise is that new interim chief executive Shane Richardson has plenty of history with Luai, and even tried signing him while he was South Sydney CEO.

When Luai struggled to play regular first grade at the Panthers behind established premiership winner James Maloney, Richardson tried on several occasions to convince Luai to head to Redfern.

Luai was managed by Darryl Mather at the time, but recently linked with Black Money Enterprises, who represent Latrell Mitchell and Cody Walker – two players Richardson helped sign to long-term deals at the Rabbitohs.

Coach Benji Marshall met with Luai several times, and told him he thought the player and club could benefit each other, but was happy to back away in recent times and leave it to Tigers officials to discuss the terms and conditions of a move.

Richardson, who signed Marshall to Souths – and also worked with his assistant, Robbie Farah – will no doubt make securing Luai’s signature one of his first orders of business.

He is not due to start until the new year, but you can only imagine Richardson will be working the phones.

Richardson and interim chairman Barry O’Farrell will have the power to sign off on any new deal.

The Panthers have offered Luai a three-year deal worth $850,000 per year – about $350,000 less than the offer on the table from the Tigers, which is for four years.

The Bulldogs remain an outside chance to sign Luai, with Phil Gould having met with the player on more than one occasion to persuade him to re-unite with former Panthers teammates Stephen Crichton, Viliame Kikau and Matt Burton, and coach Cameron Ciraldo.

Tigers players were tight-lipped as they left the club’s Centre of Excellence on Tuesday when asked about the departures of Pascoe and chairman Lee Hagipantelis, as well as what the news meant for the pursuit of Luai. Several senior players said they had been instructed to stay quiet.

Then there is the matter of David Nofoaluma, the $500,000-a-year winger who is contracted until the end of 2025 but only returned to training on Monday after he refused to attend last week because of perceived unfair treatment.

Nofoaluma, who only agreed to resume training after the Rugby League Players’ Association met with the Tigers, had a big supporter in Hagipantelis. The former chairman will not be allowed to re-apply for a board position for at least six months.

Nofoaluma, who missed training on Monday because of a calf injury, also refused to comment on the axing of the chairman when approached by this masthead. He did reaffirm his commitment to the club, and hoped to be back running with the main group by next Monday.

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