PNG Chiefs’ courting of Luai shows not all NRL teams are created equal

April 28, 2026 — 5:00am

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Deals are not usually cultivated this way. Not this publicly, and certainly not anywhere near a prime minister.

The courting and bargaining is more often done in a cafe or another, less conspicuous, location. It may involve overtures from a club chief executive or head coach, and some (ostensibly) secret details may slip out to the media and then the public. Rarely, however, will the leader of a country have anything to do with the recruitment of an NRL player to a club.

This knowledge of what is usual confirmed, by default, the unusualness of Sunday’s sight: Jarome Luai seated next to Papua New Guinea prime minister James Marape, in full view of a packed Port Moresby crowd. PNG Chiefs chief executive Lorna McPherson and general manager Michael Chammas were at Sir John Guise Stadium too, but it was Marape’s presence that underscored the unique concessions afforded to this expansion club. And not just in the obvious sense – that the Chiefs represent an entire nation as opposed to one city or even one region – but more regarding the previously unseen incentives at play.

Never before has an NRL franchise been created courtesy of a geopolitically motivated $600 million investment from the Australian government (because really there are not one, but two invested prime ministers). And just as Anthony Albanese was nowhere to be seen when Luai was lured to Wests Tigers from Penrith, Perth Bears officials will be watching this pleasant international tour unfold with the understanding that it could never be them.

It could never be them because this 29-year-old is a multiple Panthers premiership........

© The Sydney Morning Herald