Wests Tigers' Luke Brooks and Mitchell Moses trying to live up to hype
Tom Decent
Journalist
Luke Brooks and Mitchell Moses are in a position that would be the envy of most up-and-coming league players, but they sometimes wish things were different.
Halfback and five-eighth of the Wests Tigers, aged just 20 and with the potential to reach the very top of their profession, we were told, and they were told, they were destined for greatness.
That may yet come to pass, but at the moment they are playmakers in a Tigers team which stands a genuine chance of being this year's wooden-spooners.
It's not a situation anyone wants to be in, let alone two inexperienced players yet to celebrate their 21st birthdays.
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The hype about Brooks and Moses, who are products of the well-renowned league nursery Holy Cross College Ryde, was rife last season as the pair made their first-grade debuts, but a year down the track and with their team staring down the barrel of a sixth consecutive loss, the pair agree the adulation was distracting and unnecessary.
" It [the hype] is frustrating, but you've got to put up with it," said Brooks, who was named last year's Dally M rookie of the year. " It's not something you want when you're coming into first grade. There was a fair bit of hype about us before we'd even played a game, so there was a fair bit of expectation.
"It's not something I think they [the media] should do but you can't really stop it. I think it's a bit unfair on players coming through who haven't really played. They really hype them up and if they play a bad game everyone says they're not as good as they are. When you lose, a lot of criticism goes on the halves and the opposite when you're winning. You've just got to get used to that."
Their coach at school Tim White, described them in 2013 as "among the brightest prospects I have seen in rugby league since Jarrod Mullen and Mitchell Pearce in 2005" and had potential to surpass Benji Marshall when he was at the Tigers.
Brooks and Moses cannot shoulder all the blame for the Tigers' poor performances this year, in which they have only won five games, but the personal expectations of the two 20-year-olds destined for greatness means they will happily accept the criticism.
"We definitely take that [blame for the season] on our shoulders and that's how I've wanted to have it," Moses said. "I don't make excuses for myself. I haven't been up to scratch this year and I definitely haven't been happy with my games."
After a game, the pair discuss how and what went wrong, and are working constantly to change people's perceptions that they are two youngsters debilitated by chronic second-year syndrome.
"Our performances haven't shown people what we can do," Moses said. "I just wanted to do my job and play good footy week in week out which I haven't been able to do.
"It's probably been good for our football, learning the hard way, [and] the best thing for 'futuring' our careers."
Despite their mixed form in 2015, coach Jason Taylor is sticking by the duo, who first teamed up as 11 year olds for New South Wales in a school side. The faith offered by Taylor is something Brooks says he wants to quickly repay.
" We've got to take a bit of ownership and we can't keep using our age as an excuse," Brooks said. "It has been tossed around that we are young side but we've all played a few games. In a perfect world you wouldn't have people talking you up and then on the opposite side bagging you when you lose. I think you've got to get used to it."
Source:
http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/...rying-to-live-up-to-hype-20150727-gilfz7.html
