The well of confidence runs deep at the foot of the mountains, even if it was tested to the limit in Sunday night’s epic Grand Final.
Penrith’s shy and retiring five eighth was on the bench with a shoulder injury to observe the Nathan Cleary-inspired turnaround that delivered a third straight Premiership to the Panthers, and was quick to label hiis side the greatest of the NRL era on the back of the stunning comeback.
“The resume speaks for itself,’ he said. “No other team has done this. Hate us, love us, nobody can argue with that. We’re just getting started.
“It’s what winners do. Winner win and we’ve got a lot of them in our team. We’re going to continue to strive for that, but that’s a while away. It’s time to party.”
From the bench, he displayed how deep the faith went, revealing the conversation between himself and 18th man Tyrone Peachey.
“We spoke on the bench saying ‘do you believe?’,” said Luai.
“I was speaking to Peach and I don’t think anyone else gave us a chance, down by 16 points with 20 minutes to, Broncos on fire.
“But we’ve got that number 7 in the team. You can’t count him out. He’s the best player in the world, full stop.
“We’re a team that you can never count out. We’ve shown it many times when we’ve been down and we’ve always fought back. Me and Peach had belief on the bench, but I don’t think anyone else did.
“It’s the worst feeling (watching on), but knowing what kind of team you have and what players you play with every week, you never count them out.”
Luai was withdrawn with a shoulder injury, a recurrence of the problem that kept him out for the run-in in the regular season, telling media that he had
“It’s a lot better than if we’d lost,” he said in the sheds. “There was a tackle towards the end of the first half where it went numb. At half time I got needles, painkillers, and gave all I can give to finish it off.
“It wasn’t that bad last week and I didn’t have to needle it, but this was a bit different.”
He will now look to play for Samoa – assuming his shoulder can be managed – and begin discussions on a new contract – though he was quick to point out that it wasn’t his priority for the next few days.
“It’s success or family,’ he said of his motivations. “That’s the two more reasons. The decision is coming up, but it’s not for now. It’s time to party.”
Mike Meehall Woodhttps://www.theroar.com.au/2023/10/02/the-resume-speaks-for-itself-jarome-luai-on-the-hate-the-injury-the-faith-and-why-the-panthers-are-the-best-of-the-nrl-era/‘The resume speaks for itself’: Jarome Luai on the hate, the injury, the faith and why the Panthers are the best of the NRL era
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