New angle of Jarome Luai kick on Isaiah Papali’i proves his innocence

Jarome Luai has copped a heap of flack following the NRL Grand Final for an alleged kick to Isaiah Papali’i.

Officials had appeared to miss a moment where the five-eighth seemingly struck out at Parramatta Eels forward Isaiah Papali’i. 

Luai acted as a dummy half as Papali’i and Eels teammate Will Penisini were lying on Brian To’o after tackling the winger.

The Penrith then appeared to kick out at Papali’i with a short right foot to the body, in a move that was slammed by fans on social media.

However, a new angle of the footage reveals that Luai had barely made any contact with the Eels back-rower, essentially rendering any complaints invalid.

Parramatta star Ryan Matterson had also taken aim at his counterpart whilst complaining about a $4,000 fine that he copped for a crusher tackle on Dylan Edwards in the NRL Grand Final.

Matterson told reporters: “Considering Jarome Luai is kicking players and he didn't get cited. It makes you think 'Where is this game heading?'"

Luai had responded to the comments with a cheeky dig on Instagram, sharing the comments and captioning the image with three crying emojis. 

He also added the chorus of Kennyon Brown’s song ‘Cry 4 U’ as the background track.

Rightly so considering it now just seems like sour grapes from Matterson. 

Penrith fans ensured Matterson and the Parramatta faithful knew they had made a mistake.

One fan said: “I hope anyone crying about an alleged Luai kick feels like a clown right now. 

“Especially after Papali’i literally said there was no kick.”

Another commented: “You can all apologise to Luai now.”

Whilst a third took the opportunity to make a cheeky joke at Mitchell Moses’ expense.

They added: “Parra reaching like Moses at decoy runners.”

The NRL Premiers had been slammed in the days following the Grand Final win over their Western Sydney rivals. 

Their celebrations had ruffled a few feathers with the likes of NRL 360 panellist Paul Kent taking aim at Jarome Luai in particular.

The Penrith player had posted an image with teammate Jaeman Salmon with the caption: “My N****.”

Kent took incredible offence to the post.

He said: “It’s a well-known racial term which Penrith claim is a term of endearment, which is ridiculous.

“Honestly, at some point these blokes have got to be asked to act like men. They’re carrying on like 16-year-old schoolboys the way they’re carrying on with this victory.

He added: “(Luai) runs the risk, he’s 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.”