Samoa head coach Ben Gardiner has called out the speculation that Jarome Luai has been recruiting players to come join him at the PNG Chiefs ahead of their inaugural season.

With the Samoa captain joining the NRL’s 19th side for their inaugural season in 2028, having only played nearly two seasons with the Wests Tigers, there has been plenty of speculation on his playing future.

After initially planning to play next season with the Wests Tigers, it was confirmed on Tuesday that the four-time Premiership player is on the move to the blue and gold of Parramatta for 2027.

While there is no doubt that his talent will help improve the Eels, there had been some concern expressed by the likes of Paul Gallen on Channel 9’s 100% Footy that he would spend his time trying to recruit players to join him at the PNG Chiefs for 2028.

Despite those possibilities, Gardiner was quick to dismiss that notion, calling it an ‘absolute rot’.

“(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.”

But while the Perth Bears assistant coach did find the move from an Eels’ perspective a bit weird, he did think it would improve their side with his leadership qualities.

“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.”

Luai is expected to feature in the Tigers’ Round 21 clash against the Raiders at GIO Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

Kick-off is at 3pm AEST with SEN League having live coverage of the match across our radio network and on the SEN app from 12pm with NRL Crunch Time.