Jarome and hosed: Luai hat-trick seals stunning Leichhardt farewell for Tigers

Turns out dead cats do bounce. None more than Jarome Luai.

Which was probably never in doubt given Sunday’s last dance (for 18 months) at Leichhardt Oval.

A week after being thrashed 68-0 by the all-conquering Panthers and lamented as “brain dead” by coach Benji Marshall, the Tigers led the Titans by 12, conceded 24-straight points and then stormed home in the wet for a famous 36-28 victory.

Fittingly, it was skipper Luai – the face of four heavy losses since announcing his historic signing with PNG – who led the revival with a second-half hat-trick to hit back at his critics.

The last two tries from the joint-venture’s headgeared hero decided an enthralling affair, and came in classic Luai fashion – with fast feet and a moment seized. But that was only after 79 minutes of largely unadulterated, defence-free madness.

With a standing ovation welcome, howling southerly at their back and a 12-0 Tigers lead, Leichhardt Oval – hosting its last game for 18 months before a sorely needed $40 million upgrade – was all set to be farewelled in fine fashion, by a sold-out mob of 17,773.

Gold Coast maestro Keano Kini then trashed that script all on his own. With three try assists in six minutes and 211 first-half running metres, Kini sparked a trio of scarily similar long-range tries right through the middle of the Tigers and a surprise 18-12 half-time lead.

Jayden Campbell’s sharp short ball for Beau Fermor made it 24 points on the bounce just two minutes after the break. The Leichhardt faithful had fallen mute after renditions of everything from John Denver to Journey and Creedence Clearwater Revival, but 24-straight points makes for a rough encore.

But working in concert with fullback Jahream Bula down the Tigers’ left side, Luai changed that tune.

Surging over in the 47th minute, the under-fire co-captain had the Wayne Pearce Hill in full voice once more – It’s Raining Men the soundtrack of choice as the Titans obliged by kicking out on the full and conceding penalties for fun.

When Alex Seyfarth spun out of one tackle, powered through another, scored another and booted the ball out over the fence, it was 24-all with 27 minutes to play.

The Titans reclaimed their lead when Sunia Turuva botched a bomb defusal on the sideline, copped a wicked bounce and the Tigers wound up defending their line. Quick hands had Phillip Sami racing over it soon enough.

With 10 minutes to play, Luai was at it again though, screaming onto a knocked down pass that sat up perfectly for his second of the afternoon. As the clock ticked down, the DJ put his feet up. A voracious “Tigers″⁣ chant sufficed.

So too, Luai’s last play. With 45 seconds to go, one jink back inside, then another and another, he was in under the posts.

A warning eventually went out over the loudspeaker: “Please don’t start pilfering chairs from the western grandstand, there’s still NRLW games to be played here.”

Fair enough, both ways really. The dead cat had bounced after all.