Brooks under pressure

[hobbo1]

What a howler.
I gave him a good rap for the Broncos game but even then it was only a better game - not a great game by any stretch. We are now 6 weeks in to another season. Another season where fans said "give him **another** chance". Are we really going to throw away another year? Pandering to this baseless belief that he is a first grade 7?
After 5 long and painful years I just cannot believe our own fans call for more patience or dare chastise other fans for not sticking by "loyal" players. What a joke! It is time to move on!
Replace him, I don't care who with. He stifles the play so much that I'd rather play without a 7 than with him there, but please for the love of Tigers please spare us another year of "unfulfilled potential".
It is the most remarkable, ironic thing: Brooks' reputation is what keeps him in first grade, but what exactly in his legacy so far makes for this utterly baseless yet resolute conviction in him? He has a terrible record and has always been incredibly inconsistent! I am baffled!!

Let's spell this out clearly: even a poor judge of NRL can see that Brooks is well out of his league. And if you aren't convinced, look back at the last 5 years: evidence enough that he simply does not have it in him.
A vote for continuing with Brooks is either an admission that (a) you want our team to fail *or* (b) you are Luke Brooks/his family.

*Why am I going after Brooks?* Well, he is the halfback and supposed to be the lynchpin of all our attack. But no team can compete when your 7 is utterly inept. He is not the scapegoat here. Rather the opposite, many of the other players are made scapegoats for his ineptitude - Brooks is simply a main part of the real reason we suck.

TBH I would be happy if he was merely a competent 7 - there are many of these in the NRL. But Brooks actually stifles our attack. He can't kick effectively at all. He throws hospital passes and hard flat balls all the time!...and when was his last cut-out ball? His 5th tackle options are atrocious. He doesn't kick field goals (4 in 113 games). Won't take control in the crucial moments.
For those that say:
**"He runs at the line effectively**". So? That is only meant to be a diversionary tactic anyway! His playmaking is the thing! If you think he's that good a runner you'd stick him in the centres.
**"The forwards don't give him a platform"**. Geez...get some new material! This doesn't take away from his lack of skill as a halfback!
**"But his tackling is better than previous years"** Could it have gotten any worse? Crikey!

I honestly do not know what anyone sees in him. There is practically no redeeming feature about his halfback game.
If he were lining up to replace Robbie at hooker, or start playing as a 6, now that sounds like a solution of sorts. But he cannot play 7!

It used to be that if you criticized Brooks (in an honest manner) there was an army of fanboys who took it personally and in turn berated fans. But let's call it like it is now: the longer anyone goes on supporting or defending Brooks the less credence you can give any of their opinions and the more foolish they look.

Madge...if you keep Brooks at 7 he will kill your chances of doing anything great here. Face up to it, he is not Reynolds or Keary. Do something about it.

Good read , good rant and a good laugh !
Unfortunately we’re stuck with the useless garden gnome until 2023 😭

 

[jirskyr]

Curious which halfbacks you prefer?

I'm not saying Brooks is a great player, nor am I saying he's the player to take us regularly to the finals.

But on the other hand, you cast your eyes around and the stocks are low across the competition.

Brooks was Dally M HB of the year in 2018. You can't just brush that aside - independent judges said he was the consistently best-performing HB of 2018. This is especially of note considering Tigers finished 9th, so Brooks was playing in a 50% win side.

So I'm all for replacing him, but who with? Sam Williams? Chad Townsend? Nikorima? Lachlan Lewis? Junior Jr? Ben Hunt?

There's basically 1 in-form halfback in the comp at the moment, who has consistent form - Cronk. People are talking up Moses but that bloke has steered his teams generally to horrid season-ends, so I'd want to see 3 or 4 seasons of regular quality output before reluctantly admitting he can play well.

Anyone else, you are looking at $1M to outlay - DCE, Hunt, Cleary etc. Not worth it IMO, not with the inconsistent output they all have.

I personally believe Ash Taylor is one of the most talented HBs going around, but he is the epitome of inconsistent. I also believe Cameron Munster is the best half of any type going around, except he really isn't a HB and he wouldn't solve the Brooks problem IMO.

I'm all for replacing players, but they have to be better cost-effective options. Until that is a realistic proposition, you keep Brooks as a known reasonable quantity.

 

[bigsiro]

@jirskyr
I can absolutely brush the Dally M aside.
The voting is a joke. Until it is fixed Dally M will remain a farce.
By the way, Brooks was given all three points vs Broncos. On our 3,2,1 he wasn't even in vast majority of the scores. I wonder if Gary Belcher even watched the game.
Anyway, for anyone deferring to the Dally M as the reason we should keep Brooks, please go back and watch 2018 in review, he was good in 6-7 games at the most. Not saying that you are saying this @jirskyr, but it is also hardly an excuse for the 5 years of crap. Please everyone, enough with the Dally M already.

Re replacement: I'd have any of those guys you mentioned instead of Brooks. But I'd rather just have Mbye there for the time being - and that is saying something - as he is spiraling down at the moment.

Ash Taylor runs rings around Brooks.
And give me Munster any day.

You're right about Brooks being a known quantity. But it is far from reasonable.

Spell in reggies to give him a bit of perspective and renew his creative spark is the only thing I can think of in the interim.