Luke Brooks

[The Silverdale Phantom]

Figured you were imitating the people on WTF.



Even if I did share the majority opinion of Brooks, why on earth would we give Brooks to the Knights and get nothing in return when we could trade him to the Dogs for Luke Thompson?

Spose.

 

[WA Tiger]

From vics account on the wtf forum thread I can see now where that stupid ..”so you hate him” line comes from… Ive always thought what a wierd thing to say ..how can I hate a players personality when I don’t know him.. however Brooks is different. I do hate him.. He skulks around with that stupid smile on his face thinking hahahaha You dumb pricks I’m going to suck as much money out of this club as I can, in fact more than anyone else and look I’m near the worst player here, hahaha you dumb pricks all of you.. I just have to keep up this “I’m a cute harmless nice guy,who couldn’t hurt a fly” act and I could get to 400 games like what’s his name

yea I hate Brooks.

 

[The Silverdale Phantom]

Brooks leaving would be best for us and him. For whatever reason it just hasnt worked out for for him here, I feel the club has been partly to blame for this however 2021 all the excuses went out the door and he had one of his worst years in first grade. Its rare that a player leaves and you genuinely wish them all the best but with him I absolutely would. I would love to see him go to another club, play his best footy and take his team to the finals.

If Doueihi didnt do his ACL I absolutely believe he would be leaving, however the club will probably (short sightedly) make him stay now. Next year is going to be a write off anyway, just suck it up and have Hastings paired with Madden/Peachey until AD is back.

Someone will pick up Brooks at full freight or very close too, then with that $800k we could get a real quality forward or centre whcih would improve the team overall.

The alternative is that we play Brooksy up until AD returns May and then suffer through 3 months or so - Brooks' on the bench- at $800K a season.

If we only get half a season out of Brooksy, then he's costing us double a whole season or about $1.6m.

Given his performance last year, lets be honest, extremely generous and conclude that at his very highest, he had a half season of marquee, so we pay him $800k for half a season of marquee, therefore his actual cost is closer is $1.6m for the whole season as he has inevitably half a season of footy downtime.

The value isn't there.

For this kind of cash we could almost sign up both the half backs in the grand final.

Cleary in the run on squad with Renno on the bench ffs.

We could get Ben Hunt for that with enough to scull down a Cameron Murray or a McInnis on the bench if necessary.

$800k is consistent high end footy money.

Its just a fact of life he is going to play better at the knights, that's ok, good luck to him. No hate from me, just disappointment. But its partly our fault for hanging onto him and keeping him in the lifestyle to which he has become accustomed.

 

[Tiger05]

The value isn't there.

For this kind of cash we could almost sign up both the half backs in the grand final.

Cleary in the run on squad with Renno on the bench ffs.

We could get Ben Hunt for that with enough to scull down a Cameron Murray or a McInnis on the bench if necessary.

$800k is consistent high end footy money.

If we could make any of those trades you'd take it but we can't.

 

[The Silverdale Phantom]

If we could make any of those trades you'd take it but we can't.

Yeah I know, I was trying to illustrate the point.

I guess my main contribution here is that it might be possible to carve up a players season based on his performances in each round and then work out his real net value (minus or positive).

I could be wrong, but I don't imagine that the club thinks for $800K, we are only to going to get $400K of value ( factory at about $320k) represented by Brooksy playing an his optimum for half the season.

When you think about it carefully, an "optimum game" must include no mistakes, plenty of yardage, pin point accuracy, deception and agility, no missed tackles and all of that. I suppose its things we know or have seen that he is capable of. I am taking stuff evidenced that he's on the record for displaying, rarely and elusively. An annual or bi-annual event now.

And a few years ago I was quite pro-Brooksy and there were others who tentatively joined me in extending him a robust benefit of the doubt, looking to exculpate him from harsh criticism owing to a combination of pathetic forwards and other reasons not in his direct control, but as time has gone on and the fiasco of his extended start last year, doubts have led to conviction.

So its in figures $800K a season, but I've given him a generous half-optimum and he's costing us $1.6m and Id rather redeploy existing talent.

 

[Everlovin' Antichrist]

The mere rumour that he was going to the Knights gave me half a chubby.

 

[The Silverdale Phantom]

The mere rumour that he was going to the Knights gave me half a chubby.

You may have that confused with the reports of Gladys's evidence at ICAC.

 

[Everlovin' Antichrist]

A chubby and Gladys go together like steak and snot.

 

[Vic Mackey]

I look at Buzz rating his top 50 players. Hughes is number 5. You might not agree with Buzz’s ranking (or frankly anything Buzz says) but he is a top tier player in the league.

I think his and Brooks’ skill set are very similar.

Now if you had of looked at the two players side by side two years ago, 99 people out of 100 would have put Brooks as the more talented.

Good coaching and the ability to find the square hole for the square peg is critical.

Don’t let Brooks go; he’ll head to the Roosters, or replace Munster in Melbourne and play SoO in 2 years.

Yeah but don't you feel that Brooks has been used all wrong. IMO he is not a game manager, steer the team around the park type of half yet the WT have consistently tried to make him play that role and I think its square peg round hole kind of stuff. Even at the start of this year in the wake of Benji going it was all Brooks will be given the keys to the team....that's BS in my opinion because he is a running half with some playmaking ability who would be at his best without the responsibility of steering the team around the park. Example in terms of playing style not necessarily an ability comparison but I'm suggesting similar to Luke Keary who is / was at his best when the Roosters had Cooper running the show, kicking and steering the team around the park.
The question for 2022.....Can Hastings be the Cooper to our Luke? (Once again in terms of roles to be played not an out and out ability comparison - It's a playing style comparison, please don't think I'm suggesting Hastings is as good as Cooper Cronk).

I dont disagree with either of you. I feel a lot of the responsibility for the failings in Luke Brooks career are on the Wests Tigers Football Club. If at 18 he went to the Roosters/Storm I have no doubts he would have played 15 Origins by now.

However the facts are he has played 8 full seasons in first grade and has never played a finals game. Every year there has been a different excuse for him

Robbie over calls him

Mitch over calls him

Benji over calls him

Now we are at 'He needs someone else to run the team'

Ahh what? The excuse for the first 6 years was that he wasn't allowed to be dominant enough, now its that we made him be TOO dominant and it doesnt suit him.

Trust me nothing would make me happier then seeing it happen, I admit I would be a bit sad if our finals drought ends without Brooksy and Nofa there to experience it, whatever you think of these guys they have had chances to leave and always stuck solid, I just cant after 8 years suddenly see something clicking and Brooks working out for us.

 

[Wizardman]

The saddest part of the career of Luke Brooks is the fact that his best game ever in first grade was his FIRST.

 

[BrotherJim05]

Whatever happens this year, I just want to see at least two games with Doeuihi and Hastings as the starting halves.

 

[I Bleed Maroon]

He's gotta go. Forget about Madge, Brooks would be the first element I would be cutting loose. He is absolutely useless, and wouldn't get a start in the halves at any other club in the comp, including the Dogs. Frankly it's a credit to his silver tongue at least that he's managed to last this long in NRL first grade. Personally I reckon he would be nothing greater than a middle of the road toiler in Super League. The fact that he's the one sitting next to Madge at the press conference speaks volumes about the state of the Tigers playing roster.

 

[Tiger05]

Whatever happens this year, I just want to see at least two games with Doeuihi and Hastings as the starting halves.

I want to see that halves pairing for 10 games. Just try it.

 

[Old Time Tiger]

Whatever happens this year, I just want to see at least two games with Doeuihi and Hastings as the starting halves.

I’d double that Jim purely because Doueihi is coming back from injury. Hastings has proven in his career so far that he is a competitor, has, unlike Brooks, played finals football and was voted the Man of Steel, missing games now means that he is behind again, in getting the speed of the NRL compared to the SL. He is younger than Brooks as well.

Brooks might benefit from getting out of the NRL and having a stint in the SL.

A spine of Api (Liddle as a backup), Hastings & Doueihi would give them some much needed flair. Unfortunately that’s next year though.

 

[Pezz70]

Just reading on the channel 9 website they claim Brooks is getting $1.1m in 2023. I believe his latest contract was signed at the end of 2020, so 7 or 8 years seasons after he started and not one final series in his resume. They need to sack anyone who had any dealings with negotiating that contract. As they point out in the article it makes it impossible to let him go, unless he agrees to terminate his current contract without liability, because even if a team would pay half we’re still 550k out of pocket. What do you do?

 

[Tiger Ted]

Just reading on the channel 9 website they claim Brooks is getting $1.1m in 2023. I believe his latest contract was signed at the end of 2020, so 7 or 8 years seasons after he started and not one final series in his resume. They need to sack anyone who had any dealings with negotiating that contract. As they point out in the article it makes it impossible to let him go, unless he agrees to terminate his current contract without liability, because even if a team would pay half we’re still 550k out of pocket. What do you do?

We r fkd.Of the infinite gargantuan blunders this club has made upgrading/extending Brooks’s contract has been imo the most toxic.Well done to Maguire & Pascoe who in their infinite wisdom prematurely extended the pathetic & massively inept Brooks’s contract.Unless we r willing to accept a 600k+ haircut we will continue to be at the mercy of the game management illiterate brooks & his scumbag manager Isaac Moses.IMO whatever it costs us we must offload the lemon in addition to sacking the imbecilic coach who has presided over the catastrophe at concord.

 

[Fordy20]

Just reading on the channel 9 website they claim Brooks is getting $1.1m in 2023.

Of course they claim that. It generates outrage and gets clicks. Unrest and speculation over player movement are the articles that get the most eyeballs. This is the attention economy.

What did Public Enemy say? Don't believe the hype.

 

[Fangs]

Apologies for pointing out the obvious...

Why on earth do the Tigers want to keep a player who doesn't want to be there?

He should be in Newcastle by now. Better for him and the Tigers.

 

[Vic Mackey]

Apologies for pointing out the obvious...

Why on earth do the Tigers want to keep a player who doesn't want to be there?

He should be in Newcastle by now. Better for him and the Tigers.

He wanted to go. Maguire wanted him to go. Sheens blocked it.

 

[Fangs]

He wanted to go. Maguire wanted him to go. Sheens blocked it.

Bizarre.

I know it's a tough position to fill but actually wanting to play for the club is extremely important. They need a cultural change just as much as a roster change.

My guess is that Sheens gets more involved in coaching after Madge inevitably gets sacked. Just interim. And just maybe a guy like Brooks turns things around. But I don't see it happening.