Brent Read: Wests Tigers fans have plenty of reasons to feel optimistic in 2025

The 2025 NRL season will start with plenty of hope at the Wests Tigers thanks to the arrival of some key signings, a soft draw and some new standards, writes BRENT READ.

There was a sighting this week of Jarome Luai in Wests Tigers gear. Turned out it was an ad for Binge, which Luai has been hand-picked to promote along with AFL star Bailey Smith, but it was enough to get the pulses racing for long-suffering Tigers fans.

Just the sight of their $6 million man, lazing on a bed in a dressing gown adorned with the Tigers monogram alongside a stuffed Tiger, raised the anticipation as the countdown begins to Luai’s arrival at the club’s Centre of Excellence.

Luai isn’t due back at training for a few weeks yet, but his impact is already being felt, the four-time premiership winner having played a significant role in convincing estranged Sydney Roosters prop Terrell May to join the club.

New Tigers signing Jarome Luai in promo for Binge. Credit: Supplied.

Luai was in his ear while they were in England with Samoa, and no doubt continued the lobbying on their return to Australia. He clearly mounted a compelling argument, although you get the feeling the $2 million pay packet played a decisive role as well.

Either way, things are looking up for the Tigers as Luai looks to drag the club off the bottom of the ladder. The Tigers and chief executive Shane Richardson splashed the cash on the four-time premiership winner for not just his talent, but also his leadership and ability to be a magnet for other players.

So far, so good. You can see why Richardson chased Luai so hard, offering him a king’s ransom and the chance to be the main man to convince him to make the switch.

Luai can’t do it on his own, however, and that’s why May was another significant signing.

He will be a powerful presence in the Tigers front row and help lay a platform for Luai and young five-eighth Lachlan Galvin to weave some magic.

The Tigers have had an interesting off-season.

A new standard has been set at Concord, and the challenge now will be to maintain it when the blowtorch is applied - history suggests it inevitably will be.

Lachlan Galvin is one Tiger who has impressed at pre-season training. Picture: Wests Tigers

The club has sacked one of their most promising youngsters in prop Jordan Miller and this masthead revealed the Tigers had handed official warnings to five of their players after they failed to meet the standards expected of them when they returned to pre-season training.

It is understood one of those players - Brandon Tumeth - was later given a reprieve when it emerged that he had started training early.

The others remain in the firing line - at least two will front the board - and there has been little sympathy from outside quarters.

If anything, there has been praise for the way the club has drawn a line in the sand.

The Tigers have been lauded for showing a strong hand after years of accepting mediocrity - Mat Rogers was the latest ex-player to savage the players concerned, claiming the club should get rid of them.

If only it was that easy. The Tigers would no doubt like to clean out some of the deadwood that has been weighing them down. That isn’t always possible given contracts are in place.

So standards are being set and the message has reverberated around Concord - shape up or ship out.

They still have some hurdles to clear with the playing squad, the future of English forward John Bateman among them, but things are looking up.

The draw has come to their aid as well. The Tigers have been handed one of the softest draws in the NRL in 2025.

They play Luai’s former side Penrith twice but the Panthers aside, they have a great start to the season and if they can build some early momentum, perhaps the tide will finally turn for a club that has been marooned outside the finals for as long as many can remember.

Wouldn’t that be something? The Tigers have been a sleeping giant for so long. Too long. The sepia-tone memories of 2005 are beginning to fade, so long has it been between drinks. People like this columnist have drunk the kool-aid before but even the great Phil Gould, legendary rugby league soothsayer, can see something is building at the Tigers.

Gould this week suggested they have a top eight roster, only fuelling the expectation at the club and among their fans. The sense is that coach Benji Marshall is slowly being given the ammunition to make some inroads in the NRL.

The 2025 season will start with plenty of hope. Luai, a soft draw and some new standards. Sounds like a golden opportunity.

Art by Boo Bailey

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The NRL’s expansion plans are well and truly back on track after West Australian premier Roger Cook’s trip to Sydney on Thursday.

A Perth team sporting the famous North Sydney Bears moniker is back on the table and expansion to 19 teams - with a 20th to be announced at a later date - is expected to be confirmed in early December.

Papua New Guinea is basically already locked and loaded, with only the finer details to be nutted out. WA is on the home straight.

The hope is that they can be announced at the same time but the clock is ticking with the Australian and PNG governments keen to confirm a team in PNG.

It may be that one comes before the other but either way, they both look destined to be part of the NRL.

The on-again, off-again Western Bears bid appears to be on, again.

Crucially, the existing clubs are on board as they eye off a golden payday in return for sharing the spoils - it is understood a loyalty payment will be staggered over as many as three years in return for rubberstamping the new additions.

Where some see PNG as a risk, ARL Commission chair Peter V’landys sees one of the greatest opportunities in the game’s history.

PNG represents a thriving rugby league fan base who live and breathe the game.

They have talent that just needs to be harnessed and the NRL will spend the years leading to their entry finetuning their coaching and pathways.

V’landys hasn’t made many wrong calls since taking charge of the NRL - don’t bet against him this time either, particularly with a $600 million cheque from the federal government burning a hole in his back pocket.

The game has the financial muscle to ensure PNG and the Pacific become fertile pathways for NRL stars.

V’landys sees a goldmine of talent and a powerful audience of more than 10 million who crave a rugby league fix each week.

They’re about to get it.

Originally published as Brent Read: Wests Tigers fans have plenty of reasons to feel optimistic in 2025