After the headlines on the news the next day, everyone kept coming up to me, 'Your son this, your son that.' Twenty minutes into the game, I had to take my shirt off.". "I can tell you word spread pretty rapidly after that. I love my Dad. But a desperate act to save the life of Jarome's friend, Panthers SG Ball teammate Casey Lafaele, caused Martin's own life to take a sudden turn for the worse. "Penrith's my home so I'm living the childhood dream, playing for my local club and getting to do it with the boys I came through the grades with," Luai said. Panthers half Jarome Luai experienced the highest and lowest points of his young NRL career in the space of a fortnight, but it was his newborn son that helped him forget about the hard times. Although Luai has just four NRL caps, he boasts three senior Test appearances for Samoa (in the 2017 World Cup) following his Junior Kiwis representation. "We were struggling to put food on the table," Martin recalls. No one at Penrith noticed much of a change in Jarome while his father was away. Luai starred with two tries as an injury- and Origin-ravaged Penrith stunned the more-fancied Warriors 36-6. The dishes he hasn't touched, but the house he plans to buy the family in the coming months will no doubt make up for his lack of involvement with the daily chores. "He's been taking me under his wing this pre-season. In 2017, Luai captained the junior Kiwis in a loss to Australia and made his Samoan National team debut against Tonga at the Rugby League World Cup, before gaining any NRL experience. "You should’ve heard the unit. I was just trying to look after my family. The torn syndesmosis and torn lateral ligaments required surgery, effectively ending his season just a fortnight after his breakout game. Go Luai, whose father will be in the stands for his first grand final. It's why Martin had to listen to his son's first game on the radio. ", It wa a mistake that cost Martin two years, two months and 16 days of his life. Luai joked that, with a mother who plays basketball and a father who plays rugby league, Israel already has options building for a future sporting career. "All I did was touch him on his shoulder and he turned around, his eyes were bloodshot and he was still crying. ", Martin Luai, who was released from prison in April, with his son Jarome at the front of their Dharruk home.Credit:Janie Barrett. Jarome had asked his mother while choking back tears on the back step of their three-bedroom suburban home. Inside a Brisbane maximum security prison cell, listening on a radio he bought from the commissary that very week, Martin Luai cried through every minute of his son's NRL debut. He was sent to a nearby detention centre in Pinkenba near Brisbane Airport, where he would spend the next two months waiting to find out if he would be marched out of the country back to New Zealand. I felt like shit after that. That week never came. He missed the birth of his first grandchild, Jarome's son Israel. It wasn't until he was given a job in the prison kitchen as a butcher, while also starting up a Christian fellowship, that he started to realise that he wasn't the one who was truly paying for his mistakes. The following year, he would break into the Penrith Panthers first-grade side in round 10 of the 2018 NRL season against the Newcastle Knights off the bench. He took my mind off a lot of things. I was always tough on him, but that day I went too far. Given the uncertainty around COVID-19, Martin didn't have an answer when he was released on April 16, 2020. But I swear from that day on he changed. Just some of the stuff he can do on the field, you saw in the Warriors game last year. "I remember counting my days at the start, thinking to myself, 'If every day is this long, I don’t know how I’m going to get through this.' This made it hard for Luai to display what he was capable of, and more times than not resulted in him having little impact on the field. Panthers half Jarome Luai experienced the highest and lowest points of his young NRL career in the space of a fortnight, but it was his newborn son that helped him forget about the hard times. Go Luai, whose father missed the birth of Jarome’s son because he was still in prison. "It hurt that he didn't get to see me step on that field for the first time," Luai admits. "I kid you not I was pacing up and down my cell the whole night," Martin says. I never hated him for the situation we were in because what he did was for us. "People I was with were getting knocked back and their crimes were less than mine.". He's been a real good role model for me, I've learned a lot off him.". Penrith would give the five-eighth further opportunities in 2019, primarily in the dying minutes of games off the bench. In 2017, Luai captained the junior Kiwis in a loss to Australia and made his Samoan National team debut against Tonga at the Rugby League World Cup, before gaining any NRL experience. Half of them were cheering, half of them were telling me to shut up," Martin recalls. I'm the oldest child and with three younger siblings I had to step into that father role for my family. "I just fell to the ground and bawled my eyes out. He kept everything to himself, finding comfort in computer games as an escape from the pain. Even though I had my reasons, there really isn’t any good enough reason to do what I did. Luai was back on his feet by the start of pre-season and is now feeling confident and comfortable physically. With Penrith still short on troops, Luai started the next two games but the Panthers lost both heavily and he suffered a serious ankle injury in a 50-18 round-19 loss to Brisbane. James Maloney announced he had signed with French side the Catalans Dragons towards the end of the season, meaning Luai would become the Panthers’ starting five-eighth in 2020. he laughed. All we need is love.". Today ... you're going home.". He's incredible.". "We weren't making ends meet," he said. "From a very young age, he’s said, 'Mum, Dad, if I make it one day, I’m going to buy you a house,' " Martin says. "He was only a month or two old when I got injured. Sports news, results and expert commentary delivered straight to your inbox each day. "Why did he do it, Mum?" ". YOUR PICK Select your favourite moment from the hard-fought victory for the chance to win a signed Panthers jersey! I remember an hour-and-a-half after we got home I went into his room. So far, he has five tries, 15 try assists and 12 line break assists, which are freakish numbers for someone playing their first full season at starting five-eighth. Luai’s influence in attack has been splendid, especially when you consider he partners one of the best game controllers in the NRL. "Just hanging in there and getting through the rehab but I'm here [back at training] now and can't wait til the season kicks off.". "Today is a good day. In the end, head coach Ivan Cleary would persist with Luai to great results, as the former St Marys Saint quickly rekindled the chemistry he had with Nathan Cleary coming through the ranks, and has arguably been the NRL’s most improved player. "Who knows what could have been if I didn't get injured.". "He took his first steps recently which is pretty early for eight months, he was only crawling like two weeks before," Luai said. I've been really lucky to get those opportunities early on in my career.". Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. He said that, despite being born in Sydney and spending his whole life in NSW, his Pasifika heritage would likely dominate any future representative decisions ahead of Origin and Kangaroos jersey, if he got the chance. Everyone was half asleep because I kept the whole unit up. Then his friend opened a door Martin now wishes he had slammed back shut. I thought to myself, 'Why would I go back to that when I can wake up whenever I want, make quick money in an hour and go back and spend the day with my family?' Michael Chammas is a sports reporter with The Sydney Morning Herald, I will live with the pain for the rest of my life: The Luai bond prison couldn't break. Once the guards all knew I was Jarome’s dad, everyone started teasing me that I was getting special treatment. "It was pretty tough, but I'd just had a son [Israel]," Luai said. He used it as motivation and his drive was like none other after that.". Throughout the pre-season, there was much discussion on whether or not the Samoan International was ready for a starting role in the NRL, with many believing he should remain on the bench and allow Matt Burton to partner Nathan Cleary in the halves after impressing in the lower grades. The father of four broke his hand on the rocks at Shelly Beach pulling a drowning Lafaele to safety. "My Dad was the missing piece in my life and at first I really struggled," Jarome says. "I debuted and he wasn't there. "It started off small then one extreme led to the next. You keep telling yourself, 'I’m going to stop this in a couple of weeks.' It took me a little while to realise that they were suffering more than I was. I didn’t go looking to do it. "That week I had a pretty good performance, probably the highlight of my career. ". Baby was born and he wasn't there. It hurt because he had so much of an impact on my career, and I know how much he would have loved to have been there. It was the biggest mistake I’ve made in my life, but when they tell you the amounts of money you can make ... money can sway your mind very quickly knowing your family will be better off with you bringing that home. Hopefully somewhere down the track I get that opportunity. "I hadn't even played an NRL game yet - to then chuck on a Samoa jersey with the NRL players was a real good opportunity for me. I was hopping around the house trying to help the missus out!

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