NRL: Luai confident Wests Tigers can make a splash in 2025

Jarome Luai is quietly confident that the Wests Tigers will be able to make some noise in the 2025 NRL Premiership.

The playmaker moved to Wests in the off-season after winning four titles in seven years of first-grade footy with the Penrith Panthers.

While the shift may seem like a downgrade for the 28-year-old, he insists the Tigers — coming off three consecutive wooden spoons — are capable of a competitive campaign in 2025.

“I wouldn’t say lower base, everyone’s on the same base at the start of the year and it’s a clean slate,” Luai said on Monday.

“We’ve been focused on brushing whatever’s happened in the past.

“There’s a lot of good buys I think, that have come from different clubs and they’ve brought in some pretty good culture as well.

“I think what’s most important now is connecting to a common cause and I’m not going to give any secrets away, but we’ve been working hard in the pre-season.

“Sometimes the scoreboard doesn’t reflect the work that’s been going on behind the scene, so I’m pretty excited to transition the work from the training field onto the big stage.”

Top NRL betting sites have the Tigers at $41 to win the premiership in 2025, alongside the Newcastle Knights and New Zealand Warriors and ahead of the Dolphins ($51), Gold Coast Titans ($51), Canberra Raiders ($67) and St George Illawarra Dragons ($67).

Their odds of making the top eight for the first time since 2011 are long as well, with BetOnline paying $3.25 for the Tigers to play finals footy.

Wests are favoured in their opening match of the season, however, with rugby league bookmakers paying $1.75 for Benji Marshall’s men to beat the Knights ($2.10) in Sydney on Friday, March 7.

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