Jarome Luai is a ‘big chance of missing the World Cup’ with Panthers star in hot water with NRL

Jarome Luai could miss the upcoming Rugby League World Cup after the NRL Integrity Unit was alerted to some of his social media posts in the wake of Penrith’s Grand Final triumph on Sunday.

The 25-year-old led the celebrations in the aftermath of the Panthers’ 28-12 win over Parramatta, as Penrith became only the second club in the NRL era to win back-to-back premierships.

Luai took selfies in the sheds with jubilant teammates and family members, but one snap may derail his World Cup campaign for Samoa.

Jarome Luai could be in trouble with the NRL Integrity Unit because of a social media post

The Panthers five-eight shared a picture on his Instagram of him and teammate Jaeman Salmon. The publicly shared post contained a word Daily Mail Australia has chosen not to republish and was quietly deleted seven hours later. 

‘The NRL Integrity Unit is aware of the post,’ an NRL spokesperson told NewsCorp.

The spokesperson added the NRL is yet to launch an investigation and would not comment on potential sanctions Luai could face. 

Some teammates told the publication the racially charged word is sometimes used between friends. 

Luai shared a controversial post on Instagram, which was deleted seven hours later  

But according to Daily Telegraph NRL journalist Paul Kent, Luai could be in danger of missing games at the World Cup should the NRL come down hard on him.

‘It’s a well known racial term which Penrith claim is a term of endearment, which is ridiculous,’ Kent said on Fox League’s NRL 360 on Monday night. 

‘He [Luai] is a proud Samoan and he’s going to play for Samoa in the World Cup and he’s a big chance of missing games now because again he got carried away with his own greatness.’

Fellow NRL 360 panelist Brent Read agreed: ‘I don’t like this at all,’ he said in reference to Luai’s now-deleted post.

A proud Samoan, Luai could miss out on World Cup games if punished by the NRL 

The Panthers five-eight (left) led the celebrations at BlueBet Stadium on Monday along with Nathan Cleary (middle) and Isaah Yeo (right) 

‘He [Luai] has now taken this down and the NRL has been made aware of this and I think someone at the club has had a word to him about it and asked him to take it down 

Samoa begin their World Cup on October 14, when they take on hosts England in the opening game of the tournament in Newcastle. 

Luai stoked up the rivalry between Parramatta and Penrith in the lead-up to the decider.

Asked whether the Panthers were the Eels’ little brother, the New South Wales star responded: ‘You can call us daddy.’

Luai continued the ‘daddy’ refrain in separate Instagram posts after the Grand Final

The Panthers gun welcomed a newborn daughter, Halo, last week and had his two other kids celebrating with him at Accor Stadium on Sunday night 

Luai repeated the refrain on Sunday, posting a picture of himself smoking a cigar in the sheds after the Grand Final and captioned it: ‘Daddy loves you’. 

In a separate post captioned ‘Talk to me nice #DADDY’ the Panthers five-eight is smoking a cigar in the sheds, with NRL premiership trophy by his side.

The Panthers gun welcomed a newborn daughter, Halo, last week.  

James Fisher-Harris struck a similar tone to Luai’s as Penrith celebrated in front of their fans at BlueBet Stadium on Monday morning.

James Fisher-Harris revved up Panthers fans on Monday, calling the Eels the Panthers’ ‘sons’

‘I just want to say Parra are our sons,’ he told the crowd, which then broke out in a ‘We hate Parra’ chant.

Kent argued the Eels were acting ‘like mugs’ and ran the risk of ‘ruining their own party’ with their celebrations.

‘At some point these blokes have got to be asked to act like men,’ he said. 

‘They’re carrying on like 16-year-old schoolboys the way they’re carrying on with this victory. […] Isaah Yeo and Dylan Edwards are the only ones you’d look at and can say can walk away with some kind of integrity […] The rest just act like rat mugs.’