Under-pressure five-eighth Jarome Luai has silenced his critics with a superb outing in the Penrith Panthers’ 48-4 annihilation of the Sydney Roosters.
Luai, 26, is the incumbent No.6 for both the Panthers and New South Wales, where he lines up alongside star teammate Nathan Cleary.
However, his position with the Blues has been threatened by a slow start to the season and growing pressure from 2022 Dally M medal winner and Cronulla playmaker Nicho Hynes, who has starred for the Sharks in recent years.
Needing a big performance with just two games remaining before NSW coach Brad Fittler names his side for State of Origin Game I, the five-eighth stepped up a gear with one try and three assists.
It was an effort that caught the attention of NRL great and Blues selector Greg Alexander post-match.
“There’s been a lot of talk around Jarome,” Alexander told Fox League.
“He is the incumbent No. 6 for NSW. Jarome’s started the season a bit slowly.
“There’s been games when Penrith have been under pressure and it hasn’t been Jarome that’s stood up and said, ‘Yeah, I’m going to try and get us home.’
“That’s why I think there’s been a question mark over Jarome and you couldn’t have answered the pressure any better than what Jarome did tonight.”
Luai was also instrumental in other aspects of the game with two linebreaks, three linebreak assists and 10 tackle busts.
“Luai was the architect of that win tonight,” Alexander added.
“Nathan had a great game but Jarome Luai, when you look at all the involvements from Luai whether it was him stepping defenders or him starting the raids down the left side, he tore the Roosters apart.”
On the other side of the result, the Roosters lost stars Jared Waerea-Hargreaves (suspected pectoral sprain) and Joey Manu (ankle injury) during the match.
The loss sees the Roosters drop down to 10th on the ladder while the Panthers hold strong in second heading into Round 12 next weekend.