{"id":361400,"date":"2024-01-20T22:36:08","date_gmt":"2024-01-20T23:36:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=361400"},"modified":"2024-01-21T01:03:02","modified_gmt":"2024-01-21T01:03:02","slug":"panthers-superstar-reacts-to-sad-luai-departure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=361400","title":{"rendered":"Panthers superstar reacts to 'sad' Luai departure"},"content":{"rendered":"

The success of the Penrith Panthers<\/a> has ended another fruitful NRL<\/a> relationship – and now Nathan Cleary<\/a> has broken his silence on the exit of long-time friend and halves partner, Jarome Luai<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The five-eighth officially put pen to paper on a five-year deal with the Wests Tigers<\/a> \ufeffworth an estimated $6 million, with his tenure at the foot of the mountains coming to an end this year.<\/p>\n

Luai has been a focal point of the side's three-straight premierships, forging a lethal combination with Cleary at both club and State of Origin level.<\/p>\n

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However, the money on offer at Concord and the allure of playing under Benji Marshall<\/a> was too good to refuse, with the Samoan international opting to move on from his local club.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

In an interview with The Sydney Morning Herald<\/a>\ufeff,<\/em> Cleary opened up on the impending departure of Luai, after the pair dominated every level of football since they first met as teenagers.<\/p>\n

"I've played alongside 'Romy' my whole Penrith career, since we were 15 years old, which makes it even tougher," he said.<\/p>\n

"It's sad. It's also a business, and he needs to look after his beautiful young family. He had so many people in his ear asking him what he was going to do, so I didn't want to be that guy asking.<\/p>\n

"He's also at that stage of his career where he can make decisions for himself. We all found out at the same time that he was leaving.<\/p>\n

"I never could have pictured Romy in another jersey. Now he's secured his future, we can focus on this year and try to make it special … it's my last ride with him."<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The price that the Panthers have paid for their continued success has been heavier than any club in the modern era, with a litany of representative stars forced out due to salary cap constraints or leaving for greener financial pastures.<\/p>\n

Matt Burton, Viliame Kikau and Api Koroisau were all part of at least one NRL title but have since switched clubs, while superstar centre Stephen Crichton has also departed in a bid to become a fullback.<\/p>\n

But according to Cleary, the system in place at Penrith will ensure the club remains near the top of the ladder for years to come – and he's hopeful of putting them on his back and leading the way.<\/p>\n

"It's a fair squad we've lost over the years now," he said.<\/p>\n

"I've played the longest with Romy, we're in the halves together, so that makes it tougher. He really represents what we're about as a team, and he's from the area.<\/p>\n

"The more players leave, the more you become accustomed to it.<\/p>\n

"I feel I'm at the age and the stage of my career where I'm ready to actually help a young guy and build a combination.<\/p>\n

"I'll have to go to another level in terms of leadership and helping the young guys out."<\/p>\n

Jack Cole has emerged as the front-runner to wear the No.6 jumper once Luai departs, while the likes of Daine Laurie and Brad Schneider could also be in the mix. \ufeff<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The success of the Penrith Panthers has ended another fruitful NRL relationship – and now Nathan Cleary has broken his silence on the exit of […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":354307,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361400"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=361400"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361400\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":361404,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361400\/revisions\/361404"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/354307"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=361400"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=361400"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=361400"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}