‘Walk a day in my shoes’: Rival’s Luai jab as Tigers gun hits back; clubs react to kick-off shift — Daily

Wests Tigers co-captain Jarome Luai has delivered a blunt response to the critics who believe he has failed to live up to his big-money deal at the club.

Since making the move from the Panthers to the Tigers, the five-eighth has faced plenty of scrutiny over his performances.

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Coming to the Tigers under huge expectations, he was expected to be play a leading role in the club’s rebuild and help transform them into a finals contender.

Instead he will depart after just two seasons, having agreed to join the Parramatta Eels in 2027 before moving to the PNG Chiefs the following season.

However, Luai has refused to be drawn into the criticism and believes those questioning his value should put themselves in his shoes.

“I don’t care, bro,” Luai told CODE Sports.

“Until those guys can come walk a day in my shoes and see if they can do it, see if they’re a better fit for it. That’s all right. We’re all entitled to our opinions.”

According to the SMH, former Tigers backrower John Bateman also liked a social media post from the Rugby League Insider about Luai being the NRL’s “most overpaid player ever”.

Luai also believes the Tigers’ win against the Sydney Roosters over the weekend can provide a much-needed confidence boost heading into the final two games of the season against the Cowboys and Panthers.

Interestingly, Luai could get a showdown against Bateman in Round 26, however he is in doubt due to a foot injury.

“Just shows what we can do, bro,” Luai added.

“Just believe in each other, and believe in what we’re doing in training.

“We’ve got two more games now, hopefully we can take this momentum into the next one.”

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CLUB’S REACTION TO SHOCK KICK-OFF EXPERIMENT

The Storm has no objections to being involved in Thursday night’s kick-off rule trial and will have an open mind to the experiment when they face the Broncos just a year after the teams met in a grand final.

The high stakes of last year’s decider have gone with Brisbane down in 15th spot on the ladder, while the Storm has missed the finals for the first time since 2010.

The teams were told on Monday that they would be guinea pigs for the new rule, which was floated in the pre-season at a meeting involving some of the biggest coaches in the game.

Under the proposed change, that team that concedes a try, penalty goal or field goal will have the choice of kicking off or receiving the ball from the restart, instead of them booting the ball back to the side that scored.

The option is designed to prevent one team from having a significant run of possession that could lead to an avalanche of points.

Thursday’s trial has received mixed support but is a good chance for the NRL to test out its new rule with two powerhouse clubs.

“We don’t have an issue with it,” Storm general manager of football Frank Ponissi told the NewsWire

“As a club, earlier in the year we would have opposed the rule being brought in, but we certainly support the trial of it.

“I think the NRL should be congratulated on the way they’ve gone about it because I think the correct way of doing it is by trialling it in such a high-profile game.

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“While both teams can’t make the finals, both are quality teams and it’s a prime-time TV game, so it’s the perfect time to trial such a thing.

“We certainly didn’t have any objection to being involved.”

It’s unclear whether a team would ever choose to kick-off under the new rules and forfeit possession, but there could be advantages if it’s windy or rainy and they feel like they can earn territory by kicking long.

“We don’t know (what we’ll do), it’s all new to us,” Ponissi said.

“We’re going in with a very open mind and will see how it goes.

“We’re not having any premeditated notions of ‘we’ll do this or we’ll do that’. We’re just going in with an open mind and seeing how it evolves.

“Maybe when you do it a second time, that’s when you might do things differently, but it’s going to be new to us.”

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