Jarome Luai puts off thoughts of Wests Tigers future until end of 2025 season

Jarome Luai will assess his future at the Wests Tigers at the completion of the 2025 season as the club makes moves to extend Terrell May’s stay at the club.

NSW Origin star Jarome Luai has confirmed he will wait until after the NRL season to navigate his future at the Wests Tigers with the club captain’s contract including get-out clauses.

While Luai has his eyes firmly focused on lifting the State of Origin shield on Wednesday night, the playmaker’s drive to elevate the Tigers up the NRL ladder is never far from his mind.

The Wests Tigers have managed just five wins and sit 15th on the NRL ladder ahead of an important clash with the Roosters at Allianz Stadium on Sunday.

Jarome Luai will wait until the end of the season to address his future at the Wests Tigers. Picture: Getty Images

“I feel for Benji, the players and the club a bit,’’ Luai said.

“A lot of it (criticism) is unwarranted. We haven’t been getting the results, but we’ve been in most of the games we play in.

“I know for a fact being there now, this club is heading in the right direction.

“A lot of good stuff we are doing is not getting the praise it deserves.

“I’m not surprised [by the intense interest] because I’ve been on the outside looking in, and it’s happened a while.

“It’s about being in the driver’s seat now, and how I help the boys within the four walls to not buy into it.

“That’s been my main focus.’’

However, given Luai’s heavy influence on both the immediate fortunes and the club’s future, the four-time premiership-winner’s contract situation remains in the background.

Luai signed a five-year, $6 million deal with the Wests Tigers from 2025.

However, he has a get-out clause in Luai’s favour that would allow him to leave the club at the end of 2026.

Luai gave his most definitive update on the situation from Blues camp on Saturday, admitting he will address his contract status, as soon as the Tigers season is over.

“I haven’t really spoken to my manager about it yet. We’ll speak about that after the season, and see what the go is there,’’ Luai said.

“I’m really committed to the Tigers, committed to turning the club around, and bringing some joy to the club and the fans.”

Luai, who missed the club’s most recent loss to the Sea Eagles due to an infected boil, said he felt that the weight of the Tigers’ struggling season would have no bearing on his preparation for the Blues.

“It’s probably been refreshing to come back into this team and not feel that media pressure that’s been going on,’;’ Luai said.

“It’s refreshing, but at the same time I’m still feeling for the boys, especially when I’m not there and they’re still getting hammered [in the media].

“I message all the boys and coach a lot, and check on them.

“I missed last weekend [against Manly], I only got out of hospital on Sunday, I needed to get into [the Tigers review meeting] and apologise to the boys because I should have been there. My health didn’t allow me to do it.

“When I get back there after Origin, I’ll make sure I tighten up the screws, and we can hopefully make a good push for the finals.’’

MAY IN TALKS TO EXTEND WESTS CONTRACT

- By Brent Read

The Wests Tigers have begun informal talks with Terrell May over a contract extension – only a matter of months after he inked a three-year deal with the club following his shock departure from the Sydney Roosters.

May has been one of the Tigers’ shining stars this season and it is understood the club and his manager David Rawlings have held initial talks over extending his contract beyond 2027.

The Tigers’ desire to extend May’s deal comes as the powerhouse prop prepares to face his former club for the first time since his surprise exit late last year.

The Wests Tigers have begun talks over a contract extension for Terrell May, who they say wants to finish his NRL career with the club. Picture: NRL Imagery

May was cut loose by the Roosters in the off-season despite having two years remaining on his deal with the club. No-one saw it coming, not least May himself.

The Roosters loss has turned into a huge gain for the Tigers. May has been among the leaders in the Dally M medal all season – he was four points off the pace when the voting went behind closed doors after round 12.

The Tigers couldn’t be happier with his contribution and are ready to show their commitment to May by discussing a new deal.

“He wants to extend his contract,” Tigers chief executive Shane Richardson said.

“We’ll take our time and work our way through it. He wants to finish his career with us. We want that too.

“He’s a great bloke. He’s a good leader and he’s been nothing but positive for the club since he came here. He’s been a great buy.”

THE ROOSTERS

It has been eight long months since May’s time at the Roosters was brought to a rapid-fire end via a phone call from coach Trent Robinson while he was on tour with Samoa in England.

May explained his shock on the The Bye Round podcast with James Graham late last year, saying he was blindsided by the news.

Terrell May is preparing to face his former team, the Roosters, for the first time, after his dramatic exit from the club. Picture: Getty Images

“Getting that phone call from Robbo, I was thinking of all the good things,” May said.

“I must be getting a call saying ‘I’m so happy for you’ all that stuff or that ‘you did us proud’. But to get that call it was just a 180 of what I thought the original call was going to be, I was just in shock.

“I didn’t digest it all until like a week later.”

The Roosters insisted at the time that they were moving in another direction and the decision was made with the salary cap in mind.

There were private claims that May didn’t fit in with the culture at the Roosters, although no-one at the club has publicly confirmed as much and the Tigers’ experience suggests those claims are wide of the mark.

The Tigers couldn’t be happier with his contribution, his standing reflected in the decision to make him part of the leadership group alongside other senior figures at the club.

The Roosters, meanwhile, have put the money saved on May to good use. In the wake of his departure, the club has handed Naufahu Whyte an extension and Egan Butcher a new deal.

They have done the same with Taylor Losalu and elevated impressive Salesi Foketi into the top 30. Young forward Itula Seve has also been upgraded.

Where the decision to let May go looked like an aberration as the Roosters laboured earlier in the year, the club can now point to the emergence of their young pack as vindication.

May was blindsided when Trent Robinson called him while he was on tour with Samoa to tell him he was not wanted by the club. Picture: NRL Photos

BENJI AND GOLF

When May was weighing up his future in the off-season, he sat down with three clubs – the Bulldogs, the Dragons and the Wests Tigers.

Ultimately, it was Benji Marshall who got the deal done. He did it by assuring May that his family would come first, pointing to his own experiences amid the criticism he copped early in his coaching career for taking a family holiday to Fiji when the club was on the bye.

“I think Benji asked a lot of questions of Terrell from a family point and a rugby league point,” May’s manager David Rawlings said.

“Benji did a really good job with that continual reconnection back to family. Benji was able to talk about his own way.

“You guys gave him a bit of a kick in the arse for wanting to go to Fiji during the year last year so he could have time with family.

“He used that as an example that if I am doing it, if I am walking the walk, then I am not going to say to you that you can’t do it if it is what you need.

“Sitting down with Benji, that conversation with Terrell was really powerful for him. That was probably the deciding factor.”

Benji Marshall convinced May to sign with the Tigers, by assuring him that his family would always come first. Picture: Getty Images

A move to the Tigers also allowed May to be close to home – he recently purchased a house in St Claire and had a young family.

The other factor that played into the Tigers’ hands was the presence of Jarome Luai, who May knew well.

“Having Jarome come through was probably another fairly important factor,” Rawlings said.

Ultimately though, it was Marshall who held sway. While Bulldogs coach Cameron Ciraldo was joined by head of football Phil Gould when he met May, and Dragons coach Shane Flanagan had his head of football Ben Haran beside him, Marshall pitched on his own.

“He just wanted to come to us,” Richardson said.

“It all happened pretty quick. The main thing was Benji. There is no way in the world we would have recruited Terrell without Benji.

“There’s no doubt he wanted to play for Benji – he understands family and the thing about family was huge for Terrell.”

FAMILY FIRST

Family is everything to May. He has made it clear from day dot that one day he would like to play alongside his brothers Tyrone and Taylan in the NRL.

That wasn’t going to happen at the Roosters but it may yet happen at the Tigers. This weekend Taylan May will make his debut for the club in the NSW Cup.

His journey to the Tigers has been littered with potholes, having parted ways with Penrith and spent time in a treatment centre.

Yet he will move one step closer to playing alongside Terrell in the NRL when he plays 40 minutes in reserve grade, sharing time with Tigers young gun Haemasi Makasini.

Provided Taylan can stay on the straight and narrow, and become the player he was before he had time out of the game, it seems a matter of when not if they play together.

May wants to play alongside his brother Taylan, who recently signed a trial deal with the Wests Tigers. Picture: NRL Imagery

Tyrone is a different story. He recently extended his deal in England – where he plays with Super League side Hull KR – until the end of 2027.

The Tigers took a look but the door has seemingly closed for the time being. Not that the Tigers are complaining.

Their recruitment and retention has been under the microscope of late after the departures of Tallyn da Silva and Lachlan Galvin, but there can be no criticism over the signing of Terrell May.

He has been a revelation.

“The young players, especially the forwards look up to him,” Richardson said.

“He’s a great trainer and has a great attitude. We did our homework when he left the Roosters. They decided he wasn’t a Rooster.

“He’s become a Tiger and we’re happy about it.”