NRL 2020: Panthers v Rabbitohs, Jarome Luai reveals sledging secrets
Jarome Luai was ranked the third best sledger in the game by his peers – but the Panthers young gun has revealed that getting under his opponent’s skin is much easier than we all think. Here’s how he does it.
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Jarome Luai has no intention of toning down his niggling ways.
And everyone in the NRL is fair game.
Like South Sydney five-eighth Cody Walker. Or Sydney Roosters halfback Kyle Flanagan.
In week one of the finals, the Penrith five-eighth celebrated setting up a Stephen Crichton try by picking Flanagan up off his teammate, throwing him to the side and standing over him.
With Luai’s boot precariously close to Flanagan’s face the Roosters half grabbed it and the Panthers livewire kick out to get away.
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It resulted in an all-in in-goal melee and earned Luai a rebuke from referee Gerard Sutton.
“You come running in there, if something explodes, I’m going to have to deal with you as well,” Sutton told Luai.
“He was choking him though. That’s only why I came over because he was choking him,” Luai said in his defence, despite Flanagan clearly holding Crichton by the chest, nowhere near his neck.
“I just love to win,” Luai said this week.
“I think it’s just my competitive personality coming through. I’m not like that away from footy. When I’m out there, there are no mates, only brothers and the brothers are on my side of the field,” Luai said.
“Whatever comes out, it stays on the field. I had a few words to the boys after the [Roosters] game and they were cool with it. It’s not me off the field.”
Luai knows the line between the niggle and trouble is a fine one but the feisty playmaker won’t be changing his ways ahead of Saturday night’s blockbuster preliminary final against South Sydney.
The St Marys junior, who has forged a reputation for being one of the best nigglers in the NRL, told The Daily Telegraph he uses his cheekiness as a tactic to help inject himself into a match.
“I don’t think I would ever snap … I’m just cheeky. I like giving it to people but getting it back too, that’s what is cool about it,” Luai said.
“It gets me into the match and keeps me present in the game.”
Luai was voted as the third best sledger, behind Josh Maguire and Josh Reynolds, in a recent players poll.
The 23-year old revealed to The Daily Telegraph the very simple, yet effective taunt that has been getting under the skin of his opposition all season long.
“I’m not a sledger, I just say stuff like ‘ha ha’. It just happens in the moment, the niggling and stuff,” he said.
“I get so hyped up because I love to win, especially when we are scoring tries, I’m so pumped up so I don’t mean to do it.”
It’s an approach none of his teammates want him to change. Luai’s halves partner Nathan Cleary said the cheekiness had a positive impact on the team.
“It’s good. It just shows his confidence, it’s not an arrogant sort of confidence that affects the team, it’s just him being him,” Cleary said.
“He doesn’t have to change for anyone, he is just being himself. He’s like that around training too and all the boys love him for it. He brings so much energy, he’s always happy and smiling. ”It’s infectious.”
Luai will meet his mouthy match in Rabbitohs No.6 Walker on Saturday at ANZ Stadium.
“They’re both pretty cheeky on the field but both are playing some really good footy so it’ll be good for fans to watch that one,” said Cleary, who teamed up with Walker in Origin I last year.
“It wouldn’t surprise me if they come together and grab each other’s jerseys.”
Like Luai, Walker has a knack for ruffling the feathers of his opposition and isn’t afraid of getting in their face.
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“It’ll be fun, I always see Cody get into a few verbals and I guess Romey does the same thing,” Tyrone May said.
“But off the field they are both good guys. I don’t know what happens, they go on the field and switch personalities but we’ll have front-row seats to their battle, it’ll be good fun to watch.”
Why the Panthers will go from predator to prey
From the Northern Tablelands over to Whangarei in northern New Zealand and out to Wellington, Penrith has scouted far and wide in a bid to create a premiership roster.
While there is a perception the Panthers are just made up of local juniors, the club has also been astute at identifying talent beyond the reach of its rich Western Sydney nursery.
Form fullback Dylan Edwards was picked up from Dorrigo northern NSW, Brent Naden was spotted in Wellington and enforcer James Fisher-Harris was scouted from Auckland while playing for Whangarei Marist Brothers.
That talent was injected into Penrith’s development system just at the right time.
It means when the minor premiers take to ANZ Stadium for Saturday’s preliminary final against South Sydney, the bulk of the players picked in Ivan Cleary’s side actually made their NRL debut for the Panthers - 13 in total.
If you break it down further, of that 13 only veteran winger Josh Mansour didn’t play under-20s for the Panthers.
Cameron Ciraldo, Cleary’s assistant, has coached eight of the 13 players.
During his time as the club’s under-20s coach, between 2014-2016, Ciraldo worked with Nathan Cleary, Edwards, Fisher-Harris, Moses Leota, Jarome Luai, Tyrone May, Brent Naden and Liam Martin.
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It’s the kind of continuity that has not only helped Cleary bring the best out of the side skillswise, it has forged a bond that players at the foot of the mountains believe is unbreakable.
“It’s been massive to be able to know Ciro [Ciraldo] not just as a coach but on a personal level, we have a good bond with him and there isn’t a bond harder to break than that of wanting to play for a player or a coach,“ May said.
“To play for each other is what we want to do week in week out.
“We have bonds and friendships you can’t really break.
“We played with and against each other when we were young and together in representative teams, it’s a spin out now when you think of it that we are playing at the highest level.”
The identification of talented teenagers across the entire code coupled with the local juniors like Cleary, Luai and Stephen Critchon has spawned a squad with premiership-winning talent.
Ciraldo’s crew of Cleary, Edwards, Fisher-Harris, Leota, Luai, May and Naden first tasted title success when they were crowned champions of the under-20s competition in 2015.
But Cleary’s 17 also features four players - including James Tamou, Kurt Capewell, Zane Tetevano and Api Koroisau - who were recruited externally.
All four have proven to be astute decisions but none more so than that of hooker Koroisau, who was in late stage negotiations with Canterbury before Cleary pinched from under the noses of the Bulldogs at the 11th hour.
Five-eighth Luai told The Daily Telegraph Koroisau’s signing has injected an edge in the side’s attack in 2020.
“Api is the kind of player that can create something out of nothing. He’s an x-factor in the middle and he has been a huge asset for us this year. He is arguably the best buy of the season,“ Luai said.
“But it’s more than what he brings on the field. I know all the boys have really enjoyed having Api around. He’s a guy but he has a young personality which is pretty cool.”
Penrith have provided a development blueprint for other clubs to emulate.
But will their rivals invest in nurturing talent or will they look to raid Cleary’s roster? From November 1, rival clubs will be able to negotiate with 11 players.
It’s a roster raid Ciraldo is confident the club can withstand without any real major damage to the years of coaching and resources poured into the playing group.
“When you are looking for good young talent, clubs like ours are where you look. That threat is there,” Ciraldo said last month.
“But I’m confident that we have the systems and culture where the guys that are here want to stay here and no one wants to put themselves on the open market. They want to stay here and work towards a common goal.”
PRELIMINARY FINAL TEAM
1. Dylan Edwards - Born in Albury and bred in Dorrigo, the fullback came into Penrith’s system at 16. Part of the premiership-winning NYC (under-20s) side in 2015.
2. Josh Mansour - Cut by Canterbury’s SG Ball side, played lower grades at South Sydney. Squeezed out of Redfern before making his NRL debut for the Panthers in 2012.
3. Brent Naden - Identified playing for Wellington Cowboys in country NSW, Naden joined Penrith’s SG Ball team in 2013 at 17; NYC 2015 alumni.
4. Stephen Crichton - A local junior through and through, Crichton started his journey as a St Clair Comet.
5. Brian To’o - A local junior from St Marys, To’o made his NRL debut in 2019.
6. Jarome Luai - Like To’o, Luai started playing for St Marys; NYC 2015 alumni.
7. Nathan Cleary - A local junior, played for Brothers Penrith and Mount Albert Lions in Auckland; NYC 2015 alumni.
8. James Tamou - After winning a title in 2015 at the Cowboys, he was squeezed out of North Queensland and joined the Penrith in 2017.
9. Apisai Koroisau - Identified as a key recruitment target, the Canterbury junior, returned to Penrith after his first stint in 2015 via South Sydney where he won a comp in 2014 before joining Manly.
10. James Fisher-Harris - Identified at 17 playing for Whangarei Marist Brothers, the prop moved from New Zealand to join Penrith’s SG Ball side in 2013; NYC 2015 alumni.
11. Kurt Capewell - The Queenslander debuted for Cronulla in 2016 but was not re-signed at the end of season 2019.
12. Liam Martin - Hailing from Temora, Martin joined Penrith’s SG Ball side as a 17-year-old in 2015.
13. Isaah Yeo - The St Johns Dubbo junior was part of Penrith’s premiership-winning 2013 NYC team.
14. Tyrone May - A local junior, who started playing with the Minchinbury Jets and made his NRL debut in 2017; NYC 2015 alumni.
15. Spencer Leniu - Also a Minchinbury Jets junior, the Penrith local made his NRL debut in 2019.
16. Moses Leota - Joined Penrith’s development system at just 13 after moving to Sydney from Auckland; NYC 2015 alumni.
17. Zane Tetevano - Picked up for 2020 after not being re-signed by the Roosters at the end of last year. Played in the Roosters’ 2018 grand final win over Melbourne.
CIRALDO’S PRELIMINARY FINAL CREW
Penrith Panthers under 20s 2015
Nathan Cleary
Dylan Edwards
James Fisher-Harris
Moses Leota
Jarome Luai
Tyrone May
Brent Naden
Penrith Panthers under 20s 2016
Liam Martin
Jack Hetherington - extended bench
Mitch Kenny - extended bench