Luai’s hopes of taking Tigers to the finals slip away with Warriors thumping
Jarome Luai arrived at Wests Tigers hoping to give the club’s long-suffering supporters a place in the top eight since 2011.
They failed to reach this point last year and after Friday night’s 32-6 defeat against the New Zealand Warriors his chances of playing finals football in his second and currently final season at Concord are rapidly diminishing.
The Tigers’ plans beyond this season have attracted a lot of attention in the last 48 hours since it was revealed that they had given PNG-bound Luai permission to find another club for 2027.
But Benji Marshall’s side face a September break again this year after their fourth consecutive defeat and seventh in their last nine games.
Having made a very bright start to the season, the Tigers managed to stay six points behind the top eight with seven matches remaining as of this weekend.
Undone by errors, they were no match for the second-placed Warriors at Campbelltown Stadium; They scored their only try with a fierce strike and a mistake from the visitors.
Luai, who won four titles at Penrith before joining the Tigers last year, tried hard but could not inspire them to come close to a much-needed upset.
Youngster Jared Haywood made an impressive start, spending most of the night at hooker for the Tigers, who have been without co-captain Api Koroisau for a month with a chest strain.
However, there was little to smile about for Marshall, whose injury problems deepened further when center Starford To’a suffered a groin injury.
Marshall refused to participate in the decision to release Luai.
“We will let you know when something is done,” he said. “Nothing is finalized or finished at this point.”
Luai also declined to comment as he left the venue and stated that he would address the issue next week.
The Tigers face Canterbury at Accor Stadium next Saturday and although the play-offs are an increasingly remote possibility, they will not “throw in the towel”, according to Marshall.
“We’ve got a few days off now, we’ll get away from football for a bit and then come back and play some more,” he said. “I have a group of men here who will not give up…we will continue to fight to the death.”
The Warriors managed to handle the Tigers comfortably while missing State of Origin duo Mitch Barnett and Kurt Capewell, who were rested after the third game of the series in Brisbane on Wednesday night.
Winger Alofiana Khan-Pereira had a double as she scored 28 unanswered points in the second half as the Warriors tore apart the Tigers from the perimeter.
The Tigers were off the pace from the start and ominous signs emerged just three minutes later when Adam Doueihi failed to find touch after a penalty.
Moments later, Warriors captain James Fisher-Harris, back after five weeks out with a calf strain, broke through the disorganized defense and scored.
Struggling to keep the visitors to 13 apiece, the task became even more difficult after 10 minutes when they lost Bunty Afoa to the sin bin for a late strike on Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad.
The Warriors scored two more goals in the prop’s absence, with only interceptions saved by Samuela Fainu (after being sidelined for two months with a foot injury) to prevent Heamasi Makasini from going further ahead.
When Samuela Fainu dived in with Doueihi’s strike, the Tigers stood up rather than could have swung and narrowed the gap to eight points.
Aided by three successful captain challenges and several set restarts, they could have shaken the Warriors further had they been able to put the finishing touches on the impromptu attack that had the crowd of 10,445 excited.
While this gave fans a reason to believe they could make a match, it didn’t last long.
Two Warriors scored tries within three minutes of the break but it put them out of reach and there was no comeback.
Not wanting to surrender, Luai ran quickly at the last minute but fell behind the line.
Unless the Tigers can turn things around dramatically, his tenure with the Tigers will end disappointingly.
