Brooks.... what is he good for??

[mike]

It would be good if Brooks moved to 5/8 in 2021 and we had a shot at an organising / game leading half. Unfortunately I don’t see any available.

 

[bathursttiger1]

For starters, Tigers are 3rd in the comp for points scored, so at the moment it's not our attack that we need to focus on. Defence we are 9th and worst in the Top 8.

I thought Brooks played ok. I thought he was as good as any of the halves out there when looking at 80 mins. People talk about Cleary "stepping up" but Cleary didn't do much at all except kick a FG, which was set up by his forward's late platform, not anything he did to get them there. Panthers platform was generally better than Tigers and they have a more balanced pack.

Reynolds was average. A couple of good kicks, some poor defence, good energy but passing below average.

Brooks for the match:
1 LB, 3 TB, tackled 96.4% (27 T 1 MT), 13 kicks 389 KM, 1 error
Cleary:
0 LB, 1 TB, tackled 72.7% (16 T, 3 MT), 18 kicks 522 KM, 0 errors.

It was actually Luai who had the most in attack - 1 LB assist and 2 T assists. And it was Koroisau who broke the match.

Personally I think the issue for the Tigers when we lose is two-fold.

Firstly a lack of platform, because our forwards are typically not big or powerful enough to turn the momentum against the top packs. They have their moments and not every match is bad, but in some games they don't manage to wrestle ruck control back into our favour. We defended Panthers go-forward reasonably well all match but Panthers were always more likely to be destructive up the middle than we were.

Josh Aloiai had a bad 5 mins gifting Panthers ball, Luciano and McIntyre not finishing the match.

Second issue is the general lack of strike, which has always been a problem for Brooks. BJ Leilua is basically the only player in our backline with consistent threat in attack. Nofo is good in broken play, Douiehi has some ability, but there is no consistent threat when we run backline players. And the backrowers - Luciano and Garner have made 1 line break between them all season.

It's all very clunky when we throw it wide, and Reynolds frankly doesn't help, though I commend his effort, he just hasn't the skillset.

Crichton for the Panthers on the other hand has been huge this season - 6 tries, 15 tackle breaks, 4 LB, 3 try assists. Panthers basically threw to him and Kikau all match, and it's arguably the best left-side attacking combo in the league.

Fundamentally, it was the late surge with some dodgy ref calls from Panthers that set up the field goal, then a single missed tackle on Koroisau. Other than that we matched Panthers all game and they are 2nd in the comp. They ground out the win against us.

I'm just not clear on what Brooks is supposed to do. Tigers sent basically the last 25 minutes defending our line. Brooks put in the kick, not much of a kick, that Luciano collected and got his head taken off for the equalising penalty. We basically never got close to the Panthers line again until 5 mins to go and down by 7.

A really good un-bias assessment of the game and Brooks.
You should not be posting sensibly comments here.

 

[TheDaBoss]

It would be good if Brooks moved to 5/8 in 2021 and we had a shot at an organising / game leading half. Unfortunately I don’t see any available.

Would love to see that as a combo with brooks and Madden

 

[Needaname]

He also won the Tigers player of the year for the last 2 years and was recently re-signed on a long contract. Some people who should know what they are talking about seem to think he is performing his role quite well.


I guess they are the same geniuses that havent seen a Tigers team make the finals in a decade. Yep, real solid knowing what they are talking about.

You cant make the finals without a half decent half back and Brooks is scraping the bottom of the barrel.

Shane Perry and the 2006 Broncos say ?!

 

[Tim Sheens]

I’m just not clear on what Brooks is supposed to do. Tigers sent basically the last 25 minutes defending our line. Brooks put in the kick, not much of a kick, that Luciano collected and got his head taken off for the equalising penalty. We basically never got close to the Panthers line again until 5 mins to go and down by 7.

Whilst the rest of your post was pertinent to overall performance, the above section refers to the only part off the match that the knockers can possibly be referring to and the paragraph pretty well spells out why their argument is nonsensical.

 

[bythebeardofzeus]

It would be good if Brooks moved to 5/8 in 2021 and we had a shot at an organising / game leading half. Unfortunately I don’t see any available.

Would love to see that as a combo with brooks and Madden

Blake Green will be off contract...

 

[Jedi_Tiger]

played golf on the weekend with one of Blake Greens bets mates he is really pixxxd off with warriors i reckon he would be some chance of a year deal or something

 

[Geo]

Can we put the wearing 6 to bed too please..the number on their backs doesn't mean much in the modern game when it comes to halves..

Luke Keary for eg is the dominate half for the Rorters he wears 6..Munster the same for the Storm 6 also..bottom dwellers Dogs 6 Foran ...Titans moved Ash Taylor to 6..masterstroke..

If we are talking about this game 6 Luai created the majority of the Pamfers points

So by all means let Brooks wear 6..

 

[mike]

Blake Green

James Maloney? Although he has previously said he would not join Wests Tigers.

 

[bythebeardofzeus]

Blake Green

James Maloney? Although he has previously said he would not join Wests Tigers.

Yep potentially another good option. He is a proven winner!

 

[weststigerman]

That happened with Tedesco as well. How do you explain that? Brooks’ fault?

Tedesco had a very good career with us in terms of tries, line breaks and tackle busts but he looks much more dangerous with the Roosters because they have so many attacking threats that have to be defended.

Have you seen DCE in the last 2 weeks, his impact has been reduced to almost nothing without Turbo, Walker and Fainu.

Exactly. Imagine if Brooks had Turbo to pass it to.

 

[mike]

That happened with Tedesco as well. How do you explain that? Brooks’ fault?

Tedesco had a very good career with us in terms of tries, line breaks and tackle busts but he looks much more dangerous with the Roosters because they have so many attacking threats that have to be defended.

Have you seen DCE in the last 2 weeks, his impact has been reduced to almost nothing without Turbo, Walker and Fainu.

Exactly. Imagine if Brooks had Turbo to pass it to.

He had Tedesco didn’t he, for at least one year if I recall. Didn’t make much difference.

I think we need to stop making excuses for Brooks and instead play him in the position better suited to his skill set which is 5/8.

 

[Cultured_Bogan]

It would be good if Brooks moved to 5/8 in 2021 and we had a shot at an organising / game leading half. Unfortunately I don’t see any available.

Would love to see that as a combo with brooks and Madden

Blake Green will be off contract...

Need to move on Reynolds for that to happen. No one will take Grub at his current price, and he has to want to go.

 

[Sart0ri]

Control halfbacks are relatively cheap, you used to use one when you had a expensive, creative 6 like Benji or Shaun Johnson (in their primes).
These days the roles of the traditional halves are shared across the spine. It is like a jigsaw, you need to find 4 players that between them have all the right attributes at a price you allocate to your spine.
Control, support, play making, creating space are all part of the collective job of the spine.

 

[Geo]

That happened with Tedesco as well. How do you explain that? Brooks’ fault?

Tedesco had a very good career with us in terms of tries, line breaks and tackle busts but he looks much more dangerous with the Roosters because they have so many attacking threats that have to be defended.

Have you seen DCE in the last 2 weeks, his impact has been reduced to almost nothing without Turbo, Walker and Fainu.

Exactly. Imagine if Brooks had Turbo to pass it to.

He had Tedesco didn’t he, for at least one year if I recall. Didn’t make much difference.

I think we need to stop making excuses for Brooks and instead play him in the position better suited to his skill set which is 5/8.

Is Luke Keary better suited to 7..?

 

[Telltails]

I’m just not clear on what Brooks is supposed to do. Tigers sent basically the last 25 minutes defending our line. Brooks put in the kick, not much of a kick, that Luciano collected and got his head taken off for the equalising penalty. We basically never got close to the Panthers line again until 5 mins to go and down by 7.

Whilst the rest of your post was pertinent to overall performance, the above section refers to the only part off the match that the knockers can possibly be referring to and the paragraph pretty well spells out why their argument is nonsensical.

This exactly. It's like people create in their mind what they think should have happened without acknowledging the barriers that prevented it. Similarly those who say we can't attack when our results prove otherwise.

 

[happy_tiger]

When I think of Geo and Brooks I think of one movie

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103855/

 

[mike]

That happened with Tedesco as well. How do you explain that? Brooks’ fault?

Tedesco had a very good career with us in terms of tries, line breaks and tackle busts but he looks much more dangerous with the Roosters because they have so many attacking threats that have to be defended.

Have you seen DCE in the last 2 weeks, his impact has been reduced to almost nothing without Turbo, Walker and Fainu.

Exactly. Imagine if Brooks had Turbo to pass it to.

He had Tedesco didn’t he, for at least one year if I recall. Didn’t make much difference.

I think we need to stop making excuses for Brooks and instead play him in the position better suited to his skill set which is 5/8.

Is Luke Keary better suited to 7..?

Who?

 

[hobbo1]

When I think of Geo and Brooks I think of one movie

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103855/

I thought Geo & Brooks were a country band .
Or am I getting it mixed up 😂

 

[happy_tiger]

When I think of Geo and Brooks I think of one movie

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103855/

I thought Geo & Brooks were a country band .
Or am I getting it mixed up ?

Both ....they do love songs ........star in movies .....