Jarome Luai, a four-time premiership winner with the Penrith Panthers, has revealed that he is open to a move to the Super League competition in the future.
The remarks from the NSW Blues and Samoan representative come after he has played his final match with the Panthers and will join the Wests Tigers on a lucrative five-year contract beginning in the 2025 NRL season.
One of rugby league's biggest stars, Luai will enter unchartered territory next season as he looks to lift the Wests Tigers from the bottom of the ladder alongside fellow recruits Jack Bird, Jeral Skelton, Royce Hunt and Sunia Turuva.
As he prepares for the difficult challenge ahead of him, Luai admitted that he is open to a move to the Super League competition, even as soon as his contract with the Tigers expires at the end of the 2029 NRL season.
โYes, I'm definitely open to it. I think a lot of stereotypes put the NRL above Super League," Luai told The Mirror.
"But the games I've watched, and being here in the World Club Challenge, I definitely feel it's pretty evens.
"There's a lot of great players here and we get to come up against these guys now - the best of the best in Super League - with Samoa.โ
Confirming that he would love to test himself in the competition in the future, he announced the Wigan Warriors as the team he would love to play for if given the chance down the road.
The surprising revelation came after the Warriors defeated the Penrith Panthers earlier in the year to claim the 2024 World Club Challenge. Luai did not play in the match due to injury, and Nathan Cleary was joined in the halves by Jack Cole.
Depending on if the hypothetical move would actually happen, he may end up partnering with former NRL playmaker Bevan French in the halves, who claimed the 2023 Man of Steel Award.
โI'd be 32 or 33 by then. We'll see how I go. But... Wigan!," he added.
