Luke Brooks #167

[hank37w]

The quality of the games was a pleasant surprise for me… so early on in the year -
Especially with everything they had to do over there…
They were really dialled in.

We’d have been done by 50+ there, but it would have just been the new combos, cobwebs and new coaching that we’re already used to this time every year

The quality of the games, particularly in the attacking department were a pleasant surprise for me with the field being smaller than it would normally be.

The in goal areas were a disappointment and there were a couple of good tries that would have come off with a "proper" sized in goal area, but the thing that surprised me the most was how there weren't any serious injuries.

Players must have been really aware of the space or lack of it to play in, and reigned things in accordingly which, as previously mentioned still produced a couple of good quality games that could have been even better if the players weren't so restricted space wise.

 

[GNR4LIFE]

Thought all this talk of LB was "over the top" yesterday... Now you're chopping peoples posts on the topic

If you can't beat em.....?

Basically

 

[WesternSuburbsBoy]

Brooks didn't play any different to how he did here imo although probably ran the ball more than usual. There was just a noticeable difference in the quality of players he was playing with.

 

[Tucker]

Brooks didn't play any different to how he did here imo although probably ran the ball more than usual. There was just a noticeable difference in the quality of players he was playing with.

Especially his halves partner.
Without DCE, Brooks does nothing yesterday which is precisely how he played for us. The more field position that Cherry and his forwards gained, the more Brooks came out of hiding as the game wore on.
Many of us protested for years that Luke was not a halfback. The continued success Moses saw at 7 after leaving here only solidified this opinion. The club refused to recruit a halfback to complement him, insisting he just needed a good 5/8 beside him. It was the same shit we went through with Marshall.

Manly will use him properly and benefit from his speed off the mark and defence. If Cherry goes down, it’ll be interesting to see how it’s handled. A smart coach leaves brooks where he is and calls up the reserve grade halfback. We will see what Seibold thinks soon enough….

 

[AmericanHistoryX]

Great point. If Cherry Evans goes down.

 

[Tucker]

Great point. If Cherry Evans goes down.

Well he’ll play Origin for starters and he is getting pretty old, so likely a few games missed through niggles as well.
How Seibold navigates this will determine their success this season.

 

[BZN]

I wish brooks well and respect his contribution when others left but there is no way in hell I could cheer for manly
As I told my son when he was little NOBODY LIKES MANLY

No-one hates Manly more than TOMMY RAUDONIKIS and the once Mighty WESTS Magpies.

 

[AmericanHistoryX]

And Roy Masters

 

[SwervinMervin]

By reports, He took 700 at Manly.
Anyone considering that overs for an NRL half at his age with his experience
hasn't really had a look at the Market, Or the void coming inside the next 3 years,
And the lack of kids coming through to replace it...

It would have been almost impossible to get Jerome L though if we had kept Luke B at $700k. That would be $2m of cap tied up in halves. I think he will have a really good year at Manly. He’s a better than average NRL first grader, particularly when playing in the right position with the right role to play. But I still think we got a major upgrade with Jerome, albeit from 2025.

 

[Jedi_Tiger]

No-one hates Manly more than TOMMY RAUDONIKIS and the once Mighty WESTS Magpies.

the Eagles are not the hated side they once were back in the 70's 80's and 90's

 

[Glenji95]

the Eagles are not the hated side they once were back in the 70's 80's and 90's

Maybe they aren’t as hated compared to back then, but it seems to still be a thing where people that don’t support Manly hate them.

 

[batboy]

It would have been almost impossible to get Jerome L though if we had kept Luke B at $700k. That would be $2m of cap tied up in halves. I think he will have a really good year at Manly. He’s a better than average NRL first grader, particularly when playing in the right position with the right role to play. But I still think we got a major upgrade with Jerome, albeit from 2025.

Garbage....
Most good clubs are spending around the 2 mill mark on Halves...

 

[Red88_Tiger]

Garbage....
Most good clubs are spending around the 2 mill mark on Halves...

I’d expect most clubs would be spending that on 2 spine players not necessarily both in the halves

 

[batboy]

I’d expect most clubs would be spending that on 2 spine players not necessarily both in the halves

Plenty of teams with mid / lower level halves,
Or a junior Half coming through that might be cheap...

How much are Parra and the Storms halves you reckon?
Put their F/B's on top of that and you're adding just shy of another million...
Cleary is on 1.2 or some such and Penrith offered Luai 850k or there abouts?

And what do you think will be the spend on Halves in 4 years (End of Luai Contract)
I'm betting it's more than 2 mill.

 

[Red88_Tiger]

Plenty of teams with mid / lower level halves,
Or a junior Half coming through that might be cheap...

How much are Parra and the Storms halves you reckon?
Put their F/B's on top of that and you're adding just shy of another million...
Cleary is on 1.2 or some such and Penrith offered Luai 850k or there abouts?

And what do you think will be the spend on Halves in 4 years (End of Luai Contract)
I'm betting it's more than 2 mill.

Not disagreeing with you just pointing out that the it could be a spine combination for that sum
Turbo and dce for example
My guess would be 3-3.5 per spine

 

[Spartan117]

This thread is like someone who keeps checking out his X girlfriend on Facebook.

Need to move on

 

[Glenji95]

This thread is like someone who keeps checking out his X girlfriend on Facebook.

Need to move on

Just close the thread. That’s the only way people will move on.

 

[BZN]

??? That’s like the type of argument my missus makes !”Im not telling you not to watch the tigers play , but why do you watch this , I find it boring “ ….
It’s pretty much exactly what you’re saying ! It just lets you claim some imaginary high road , when you know ,that I know ,that you know exactly what you’re trying to say ! Lol

Your mrs. sounds just like mine
Yeah I'll be watching him closely, he must be extremely tough mentally to get thru the crap and criticism he's copped for years and years from us and the media... I'm as guilty as the next bloke but many go way overboards
Hopefully he's ignoring all of it.
He's never dogged it and plays as tough as the next bloke... That deserves respect. I
Hope he goes well.. But on the other hand would be just as happy to see Manly not win a.game all year

Your mrs. sounds just like my mrs.
During Wests games, if I show the slightest to much emotion [in her opinion] either good or bad, she tells me to 'cut it out'.
Bloody women, they don't understand the finer thing in life like footy 🤣, do they.

 

[Tucker]

Just close the thread. That’s the only way people will move on.

It’s not about moving on.
People are genuinely interested to see exactly how good Luke is as a player. We saw small glimpses of proper talent during his stay with us. Is that all he has got or did this club truly ruin his career?
He has detractors and supporters that are both looking to say “I told you so”.
For that reason, he will remain a hot topic this season irrespective of whether this thread stays open. I suggest keeping it open so we don’t have 10 threads going on this topic.

 

[Tomatosoup912]

The shear amount of Luke Brooks emotion I have felt over the last decade has obviously fried my brain to the point that my bias overwhelms me when I watch him play.

Because I genuinely think he was average to poor on the weekend and still can't understand why everyone was raving about him. I felt like I was being gaslight by the commentators. To me he missed key tackles, dropped the ball over the line, threw a ball into touch, his bombs were short of the try line, his grubbers didn't get into the in-goal. I felt like foxsports were so desperate for a storyline that they really over-exaggerated his involvement. The try at the end was good and he did run the ball well at times, but he has always had the speed to beat someone one on one and was doing that for us last year.

As someone who was terrified that Brooks was going to show how good her really was, I was very very whelmed by his performance and just didn't see the "masterclass" that Dan Ginnane was so wax lyrical about all night. After one game I still think the Tigers are better off without him.