Jarome Luai's beautiful grand final act for Sea World helicopter crash survivor

For all the hate he receives on and off the field, Jarome Luai is clearly a good person. The Panthers five-eighth happily plays up the 'villain' tag when in the spotlight, but behind close doors there's a much softer side.

And that was epitomised on Sunday night in a beautiful moment with Nicholas Tadros in the Panthers sheds after the NRL grand final. Tadros, who lost his mum and had to have one of his legs amputated after a helicopter crash at Sea World resort on the Gold Coast, is a massive Panthers fan.

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He was invited into the dressing rooms after the grand final to celebrate with the players, and even got to wear Luai's premiership ring. Video posted to social media shows the beautiful moment Luai embraced Tadros and asked the youngster if he wanted to try on the ring.

“Good to see you big boy,” Luai said as he hugged Tadros. “Check out the ring, take it off my finger."

Tadros told 2GB radio on Monday: “He (Luai) said to me that I’m a ‘legend and an inspiration'. He said ‘here, carry my ring, it’s pretty cool’.

“He started laughing because I said ‘it’s big on me’ cause he let me try it. Then he said ‘I love you’.”

Tadros' father Simon said: “It was an amazing night. We were lucky enough to be invited by the NRL to go watch the game and what a game it was."

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Luai visited Tadros a number of times in hospital after the accident that killed his mother Vanessa. Tadros' father Simon said the visits lifted his son's spirits during such a horrible time.

“He (Luai) had a massive impact,” Simon said. “Nicky was in a very dark place for quite a while which was understandable with what he was going through.

“He wasn’t talking to anyone and we couldn’t turn him around. We reached out to the Penrith Panthers and to Jarome Luai to see if he can come and visit Nick. To Jarome’s credit, he came through and visited Nick.

“From that day on, it turned Nicholas around and he started talking again and it put a smile on his face. From there, the positivity we just started building on it.

“Once he (Luai) saw Nicholas he straight away called him over and gave him a hug and started talking to him. The fact that Jarome has gone out of his way on numerous occasions to be there for Nick, it just goes to show the kind of person that Jarome is.

“He (Nicholas) had such an emotional day yesterday. He was super excited being at the game and when the Broncos were on top he started freaking out and crying a bit. When Nathan Cleary scored that winning try, his reaction was priceless.”

Panthers coach Ivan Cleary also went out of his way to greet Nicholas in the sheds, with the youngster telling the coach "thank you." Cleary said: “He’s become a very special member of our Panthers community and it’s so good to see him so happy.

"What Nicholas and his father have been through is unimaginable. I want us to be a source of community pride and if we can put smiles on people’s faces and make them feel good, that’s a pretty privileged position to be in and we take that seriously.”

Tadros was on board one of two helicopters that collided in mid-air near Sea World on January 2, killing his mother Vanessa, British couple Ron and Diane Hughes, and pilot Ashley Jenkinson. The other pilot told investigators he didn’t hear a radio call from Jenkinson on the ground that he was taking off.

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