Jarome Luai appears to have aimed a thinly veiled swipe at teammate Lachlan Galvin after his bombshell announcement that he would split from the club that brought him into first grade – with fellow Tiger Sunia Turuva also taking a shot at the five-eighth on Instagram.
The promising 19-year-old sent shockwaves around the NRL last week by turning his nose up at a $5.5million, six-year contract extension and choosing to hit the open market on November 1.
Galvin reportedly chose to move on because he has doubts that Wests boss Benji Marshall is the right coach to help him improve as a player and get him to grand finals.
It has been reported that several senior players, including Luai and the team’s captain Api Koroisau, pulled Benji Marshall aside for an emergency meeting on Monday and told him they did not want Galvin in the first-team squad.
Luai and Turuva have now appeared to take public swipes at the 19-year-old, whose current $250,000-$350,000 deal ties him to the club until the end of next season.
In a cryptic Instagram story, Luai published a still from an anime cartoon showing a character turning his back on a crowd of people.
Jarome Luai (pictured) appears to have aimed a thinly veiled swipe at team-mate Lachlan Galvin
Luai published this image on his Instagram story on Tuesday after Galvin had broken his silence on his shock decision to leave the footy club
Galvin told reporters that he had made the decision to leave to help further develop his footy skills
The image was captioned ‘Team First’ in what’s been widely interpreted as a sledge at Galvin.
Turuva put up an Instagram story featuring a photo of Galvin’s locker accompanied the song ‘Money Talks’, which features the lyrics ‘Here comes the money, money, money’ and is used by WWE wrestling star Shane McMahon.
Turuva has since taken the post down.
Those developments come after Tigers prop Fonua Pole liked and then unliked an Instagram post from a Wests Tigers fan account that slammed Galvin.
‘Unf***ingbelievable. We give you a shot at first grade and hand you the keys to the franchise with every tool possible around you to succeed cya mate,’ the post read.
‘Surely there’s no need to keep him around? Throw Doueihi or Bird at 6 until Latu returns if we’re serious about building and moving forward as a club.’
Breaking his silence on the shock exit on Tuesday, Galvin explained that he made the call in order to ensure the club could continue to perform this season, without distractions.
‘I totally understand my decision will frustrate many Wests Tigers fans, but please know that it wasn’t an easy call to make,’ said Galvin, who has been dropped and replaced by Adam Doueihi for Monday’s clash with Parramatta.
Galvin’s teammate Sunia Turuva also slammed Galvin on Instagram, posting a shot of his locker accompanied by the song ‘Money Talks’
Turuva (pictured centre) has since taken the post down
It comes as his team-mate Fonua Pole appeared to like an Instagram post slamming Galvin over the move
The Wests Tigers prop, Pole (pictured), has since retracted the Instagram like
‘The biggest reason why I made this call now is so that the Wests Tigers have enough time to plan their roster without me in the future. That’s the absolute truth of it.
‘I could’ve mulled over this decision all season, but I didn’t think that was the right thing to do. I thought it would be best for everyone to make the call now rather than drag it out.’
The Tigers said the $5.5million offer is the biggest deal they’ve ever put in front of a junior player.
‘Despite the club having the largest contract offer for a junior in the history of the club on the table, Lachlan and his management have decided his future lies elsewhere and were not willing to review the offer,’ the Tigers said in a statement.
‘Obviously, there will be a lot of speculation around this release, but we will make no further comment.’
Galvin, meanwhile, revealed that the move came at the right time for his development, with the exciting playmaker claiming that it was ‘in the best interests of his career’.
‘Any suggestion that I already have a deal done at another club for 2027 is simply not true,’ he said.
‘I just feel that as I move into an important period of my development as a half, that I continue to build my game at a different club.
‘Again, I know this might be hard for some people to understand, but I make this decision in the best interests of my career.’