Decoding Jarome Luai and Sunia Turuva’s cryptic social media smackdown of Wests Tigers teammate Lachlan Galvin

Jarome Luai and Sunia Turuva divided the rugby league world with their social media take-down of Wests Tigers teenager Lachlan Galvin. We decode the meaning behind the cryptic posts.

Jarome Luai and Sunia Turuva divided the rugby league world with their social media take-down of Wests Tigers teenager Lachlan Galvin.

While their posts had some pundits declaring them a show of solidarity and strength long overdue at the club, they also drew condemnation from critics who saw it as an act of bullying a teammate.

But what did the posts actually mean? Here is an analysis of Luai and Turuva’s Instagram diss of Galvin.

Decoding Jarome Luai and Sunia Turuva's Lachlan Galvin Instagram posts.

JAROME LUAI

“TeamFirst” post of a Japanese anime character with Kendrick Lamar ‘Bitch, Don’t Kill My Vibe’ soundtrack

The picture that Tigers co-captain Luai posted is of a character called Mikey from the anime/manga Tokyo Revengers. 

There are two potential readings of it. The first and more obvious one is that Mikey is meant to be Luai.

Jarome Luai's not too subtle sledge of Lachlan Galvin.

Mikey was a seemingly carefree teenager who played pranks and had a deep bond with his friends. He goes on to form a gang with those friends and is the man to lead them. Much like Luai at the Tigers, he is super protective of the group and its members. He becomes quite serious but is still a child at heart.

The second reading is that Mikey is meant to be Galvin.

Mikey is the teen leader of his gang, who starts the series as its secondary main character, or deuteragonist, but finishes as the antagonist. While charismatic and talented, he is carrying a lot of responsibility and power, and without the right people around him he becomes corrupted - becoming a notorious criminal within the universe of the manga.

The music with which Luai accompanied his post leans into the year-long beef between Kendrick Lamar and fellow artist, Drake. The pair often collaborated in the past, including on this track, but have since taken several shots at each other through their music, and refuse to work with one another. Lamar, most recently, dissed Drake during his halftime performance at the Super Bowl, which was watched by 180 million viewers.

SUNIA TURUVA

Photo of Lachlan Galvin’s locker, accompanied by the song ‘Here Comes The Money’, by Jim Johnston

This post is all about the music. While, ostensibly, it appears to be a simple jab at Galvin for being money hungry, there could be deeper meaning lying beneath.

Sunia Turuva's Instagram diss of Lachlan Galvin.

‘Here Comes The Money’ is the wrestling theme song of Shane McMahon, the son of disgraced former WWE owner, billionaire Vince McMahon.

Although Vince and Shane McMahon are real people, they play characters in wrestling, while still using their own names.

In WWE, Shane McMahon played a spoiled son who did as his father instructed. This could be interpreted as a ‘Daddy’s boy’ slight at Galvin. 

Even if the post was meant to be a financial diss, it’s inaccurate as Galvin was likely going to earn more money by remaining at the Wests Tigers than going elsewhere. The Tigers were armed with a $6 million offer they were not given the opportunity to table.