Samoa head coach Ben Gardiner has defended Jarome Luai following speculation emerging that he is silently recruiting players to make the trip up north to Port Moresby.
Luai will make the switch to the Parramatta Eels before becoming the face of the PNG Chiefs' franchise in 2028 after signing on as their inaugural player.
Although the Samoan superstar has come under scrutiny for this role leading up to his move out of Australia, but has been quickly nipped in the bud by his international coach.
“(For) Parramatta, it's a bit of a strange one (but) for Jarome, I think it's fantastic,” Gardiner said on SEN's NRL Crunch Time.
“It allows him to stay at home, be near his family and all of those sorts of things before, going off and playing for the Chiefs.
“I've heard a lot of talk around him recruiting players, and I think that's rot.
“It's just ridiculous. I had a look through PNG's (signings).
"They've signed Connor Watson, Alex Johnston and Matty Lees. I don't know if Jarome has a relationship with any of those people, so why are they saying that this is happening?
“Maybe because they talked to (Sunia) Turuva, but Turuva would maybe go anyway because everyone's talking to PNG because of the dollars and then it's a decision of whether they wanna do it themselves.
“But I think that's absolute rot. I don't see anything in that at all.”
Luai will depart the Wests Tigers two years into his original five-year contract, with Parramatta happy to acquire his services for a stop-over deal before he departs for Papua New Guinea.
The club is currently undergoing a deal of such this year, with Jonah Pezet plying his trade in Eels colours on a one-year contract before he takes up a multi-year deal at the Broncos next year.
Gardiner believes despite the unique nature of the deal, it should help the Eels push for a premiership with a lethal halves combination of Luai and Mitchell Moses.
“I think it'll help Parramatta,” he added.
“I don't think people really see too much of what Jarome does behind the scenes and one of the things for me is he's a great leader.
“He brings enormous energy to the environment. So, when you come in on a day-to-day basis, and you sit down in a meeting as a team, there's banter, there's carry-on, there's laughing, there's yelling from the back of the room, and I think that he really drives that.
“So, I think that's great for building an environment. Parramatta's already got their environment, but he'll add to that.”
Meanwhile, Luai's focus is placed on closing out the Tigers' season in positive fashion, with the joint venture unlikely to make the finals after dropping crucial matches in the last five weeks.
