L Brooks

[colmcd]

At (close enough to) 100 games, Brooks is no longer a rookie.

I'd love to see him take his game to a new level but he has had plenty of time to do that already, albeit in a weak side.

There's going to be real pressure on him to retain the number 7 in 2018.

… Which is a good thing. In First Grade, he has never really had competition for his spot before. Now he will. Plus, he is off contract at end of 2019, and really, if he doesn't step up next year, then he will get dropped, and we're using Benji instead, then I suspect he may get shopped out at end of year and we source another halfback.

Maybe he will, Maybe he won't. The guy actually has a stack of talent and I think can be a really good halfback. He did not work with Moses though, he did with Austin and I still have no NO idea why we put all our hopes in the Brooks + Moses combo when there were warning signs all the way through. We Spoilt our rookie's rotten.

Either way, it is CRUNCH time for Brooks. This will be good for the tigers.

 

[tsjonathan]

6\. Lolohea
7\. J Reynolds

I'm curious as to why so many people believe this combo will work. No game management whatsoever, both players' biggest strength is their running and support games and both would have worse 5th tackle options than Brooksy. Our first grade halves pairing has to have either Brooks or Marshall in order for us to playing at the right end of the season. No offence intended TS, just my thoughts.

Trust in Ivan. :smiley:

I agree JRtiger, just disappointing with Luke Brooks' , I haven't seen much progress with him since his first season. As I have said before I think his debut game was more of a curse than a blessing.

 

[Swordy]

Ill give brooks half a season behind a decent pack to fulfil some potential.

Hes been running behind a bunch of pussies, and beside a narcisist traitor in Moses for years. What do people expect?

Its no surprise that in the last 6-8 weeks he has gotten a little better. Its one of the toughest positions on the field. Not sure even cooper cronk could do much with what we had.

 

[old_man_tiger]

To be fair he can't drop himself, the coach has to drop him and so far 3 of them haven't. Gradually his game is improving, but because he spent his middle 50 odd games doing nothing I think his critics are not willing to accept the improvement is real.

He gets a pass from me overall for this year, but he hasn't covered himself in glory. Like most of our squad, the gap between his best and worst, even in the same half of football, is too great.

In a roundabout way I think playing bad has taken a lot of the pressure of expectation off him, and we've seen what that has done to players like Mullen. Maybe it is a blessing in disguise.

From all reports he bludges through the pre-season, if he does that again we have the depth to cover him next year, which we haven't for a long time. I know we are impatient, we really deserve to be, but I reckon we'll know a lot more about him next year.

 

[maxxy86]

Well when you think of it positions could be given to the players that are 100% fit. Tui fits the bill ATM so….
1 Tui
6 ?
7 ?
9 ?
Ideally it should be Reynolds Brooks Liddle. Benji will be pressuring Luke, as I think he did a good job for the broncs the other night. Albeit he made some errors in the end but his 5/8 played horrendous. Thought Benji kicked quite well and found the grass, something Luke has trouble with.

 

[colmcd]

Well when you think of it positions could be given to the players that are 100% fit. Tui fits the bill ATM so….
1 Tui
6 ?
7 ?
9 ?
Ideally it should be Reynolds Brooks Liddle. Benji will be pressuring Luke, as I think he did a good job for the broncs the other night. Albeit he made some errors in the end but his 5/8 played horrendous. Thought Benji kicked quite well and found the grass, something Luke has trouble with.

Quite a lot of teams have their spine set up, then an impact player. I think this can work extremely well for us too. Sharks with Barba, Maloney and Townsend. The rabbits with Sutton, Reynolds and Keary.
The question is your impact at 1/6/7 (9 seems locked down).

Teams set up against what they expect from us. You then swap a fast runner into Fullback, 5/8, Half or I think the centers you suddenly change the game.

SAdly I see Tui as our best fullback option and Brooks not playing enough at 1 to take over. So our impact player can only come in at 5/8, halfback (which isn't ideal as we need a half that sets up the team) or in the centers. So my thoughts are this:
train for Brooks to come in off the bench with Benji as half. Brooks comes on at 5/8 and Reynolds shifts to the centers. Wow so where is the surprise? Suli shifts from center to wing! Reynolds and Suli maintain same running lines.

 

[Tim Sheens]

Well when you think of it positions could be given to the players that are 100% fit. Tui fits the bill ATM so….
1 Tui
6 ?
7 ?
9 ?
Ideally it should be Reynolds Brooks Liddle. Benji will be pressuring Luke, as I think he did a good job for the broncs the other night. Albeit he made some errors in the end but his 5/8 played horrendous. Thought Benji kicked quite well and found the grass, something Luke has trouble with.

Quite a lot of teams have their spine set up, then an impact player. I think this can work extremely well for us too. Sharks with Barba, Maloney and Townsend. The rabbits with Sutton, Reynolds and Keary.
The question is your impact at 1/6/7 (9 seems locked down).

Teams set up against what they expect from us. You then swap a fast runner into Fullback, 5/8, Half or I think the centers you suddenly change the game.

SAdly I see Tui as our best fullback option and Brooks not playing enough at 1 to take over. So our impact player can only come in at 5/8, halfback (which isn't ideal as we need a half that sets up the team) or in the centers. So my thoughts are this:
train for Brooks to come in off the bench with Benji as half. Brooks comes on at 5/8 and Reynolds shifts to the centers. Wow so where is the surprise? Suli shifts from center to wing! Reynolds and Suli maintain same running lines.

Waaaaaay too many movements for one replacement.

Happy enough with Luke's contribution at his pay scale.

 

[851]

To be fair he can't drop himself, the coach has to drop him and so far 3 of them haven't. Gradually his game is improving, but because he spent his middle 50 odd games doing nothing I think his critics are not willing to accept the improvement is real.

He gets a pass from me overall for this year, but he hasn't covered himself in glory. Like most of our squad, the gap between his best and worst, even in the same half of football, is too great.

In a roundabout way I think playing bad has taken a lot of the pressure of expectation off him, and we've seen what that has done to players like Mullen. Maybe it is a blessing in disguise.

From all reports he bludges through the pre-season, if he does that again we have the depth to cover him next year, which we haven't for a long time. I know we are impatient, we really deserve to be, but I reckon we'll know a lot more about him next year.

He debuted in 2013, has played over 80 NRL games, we are not impatient Brooks has had a charmed run, should have been punted or at least dropped ages ago.

 

[Tiger_Steve]

To be fair he can't drop himself, the coach has to drop him and so far 3 of them haven't. Gradually his game is improving, but because he spent his middle 50 odd games doing nothing I think his critics are not willing to accept the improvement is real.

He gets a pass from me overall for this year, but he hasn't covered himself in glory. Like most of our squad, the gap between his best and worst, even in the same half of football, is too great.

In a roundabout way I think playing bad has taken a lot of the pressure of expectation off him, and we've seen what that has done to players like Mullen. Maybe it is a blessing in disguise.

From all reports he bludges through the pre-season, if he does that again we have the depth to cover him next year, which we haven't for a long time. I know we are impatient, we really deserve to be, but I reckon we'll know a lot more about him next year.

Would be interested how you know he bludges through preseason? If that's correct he does not deserve to succeed. If he is not going to give it his all, make way for someone who will. Phil Gould said earlier this year that he needs to decide whether he wants to be a first grade footballer or not. I've fully supported Brooks but if he is lazy, move him on. My hope is your information is not accurate.

 

[TigerSJ]

I think he's actually played injured a lot or certainly not 100% fit. This season in particular you could see the games when he had some running in him vs those he didn't and how these coincided with his hamstring issues. He is far better when he runs to the line and far more involved when he is fit. I think his preseason this year was also hampered by injury if I remember. In a club with more depth he may not have been rushed back from injury into the team as quickly as he has been at the Tigers over the last couple of seasons - I'm sure it hasn't helped him.

 

[old_man_tiger]

To be fair he can't drop himself, the coach has to drop him and so far 3 of them haven't. Gradually his game is improving, but because he spent his middle 50 odd games doing nothing I think his critics are not willing to accept the improvement is real.

He gets a pass from me overall for this year, but he hasn't covered himself in glory. Like most of our squad, the gap between his best and worst, even in the same half of football, is too great.

In a roundabout way I think playing bad has taken a lot of the pressure of expectation off him, and we've seen what that has done to players like Mullen. Maybe it is a blessing in disguise.

From all reports he bludges through the pre-season, if he does that again we have the depth to cover him next year, which we haven't for a long time. I know we are impatient, we really deserve to be, but I reckon we'll know a lot more about him next year.

Would be interested how you know he bludges through preseason? If that's correct he does not deserve to succeed. If he is not going to give it his all, make way for someone who will. Phil Gould said earlier this year that he needs to decide whether he wants to be a first grade footballer or not. I've fully supported Brooks but if he is lazy, move him on. My hope is your information is not accurate.

No inside info mate. Remember some discussion here about it over the last couple of preseasons. I hope I'm wrong too and he kills it. I do think he is getting more consistent, but if someone else is a better option at any point then they should get the gig.

 

[Russell]

Well when you think of it positions could be given to the players that are 100% fit. Tui fits the bill ATM so….
1 Tui
6 ?
7 ?
9 ?
Ideally it should be Reynolds Brooks Liddle. Benji will be pressuring Luke, as I think he did a good job for the broncs the other night. Albeit he made some errors in the end but his 5/8 played horrendous. Thought Benji kicked quite well and found the grass, something Luke has trouble with.

Quite a lot of teams have their spine set up, then an impact player. I think this can work extremely well for us too. Sharks with Barba, Maloney and Townsend. The rabbits with Sutton, Reynolds and Keary.
The question is your impact at 1/6/7 (9 seems locked down).

Teams set up against what they expect from us. You then swap a fast runner into Fullback, 5/8, Half or I think the centers you suddenly change the game.

SAdly I see Tui as our best fullback option and Brooks not playing enough at 1 to take over. So our impact player can only come in at 5/8, halfback (which isn't ideal as we need a half that sets up the team) or in the centers. So my thoughts are this:
train for Brooks to come in off the bench with Benji as half. Brooks comes on at 5/8 and Reynolds shifts to the centers. Wow so where is the surprise? Suli shifts from center to wing! Reynolds and Suli maintain same running lines.

The opposition teams and coaches will love your idea. Lol

 

[colmcd]

Well when you think of it positions could be given to the players that are 100% fit. Tui fits the bill ATM so….
1 Tui
6 ?
7 ?
9 ?
Ideally it should be Reynolds Brooks Liddle. Benji will be pressuring Luke, as I think he did a good job for the broncs the other night. Albeit he made some errors in the end but his 5/8 played horrendous. Thought Benji kicked quite well and found the grass, something Luke has trouble with.

Quite a lot of teams have their spine set up, then an impact player. I think this can work extremely well for us too. Sharks with Barba, Maloney and Townsend. The rabbits with Sutton, Reynolds and Keary.
The question is your impact at 1/6/7 (9 seems locked down).

Teams set up against what they expect from us. You then swap a fast runner into Fullback, 5/8, Half or I think the centers you suddenly change the game.

Sadly I see Tui as our best fullback option and Brooks not playing enough at 1 to take over. So our impact player can only come in at 5/8, halfback (which isn't ideal as we need a half that sets up the team) or in the centers. So my thoughts are this:
train for Brooks to come in off the bench with Benji as half. Brooks comes on at 5/8 and Reynolds shifts to the centers. Wow so where is the surprise? Suli shifts from center to wing! Reynolds and Suli maintain same running lines.

The opposition teams and coaches will love your idea. Lol

Why?

Barba worked best as an impact player coming in for the Bulldogs. Souths had a similar arrangement with Keary. I think moving Reynolds to center is a great idea at some stage of the match as:
Reynolds has good defense and gives good ball to his fellow players. A ball Playing Center like SKD or Jamie Lyon have been revelations for their clubs. Alternatively I could see Benji coming in from the bench to the centers, but I would rather the flexibility in the halves.

Reynolds is an 80 minute player. Meh we will see what Ivan does.

 

[Russell]

Why do people persist in thinking that you can play anyone in the centre and it will work?

Reynolds is NOT a centre - to suddenly equate Reynolds with SKD and Lyon (probably the best centre in the past 10 years) is ludicrous. Benji got away with it once, h is defence is not good enough to make it a permanent position. Centre is a specialised and very important position - something that is more evident when someone is not a centre plays there.

I would also like to know who came up with "Brooks is a bludger during the off season" - where is the proof of this? Has one of our previous coaches said this?, one of our other players?

Old man tiger wrote that he is, when questioned he came up with "No inside info mate. Remember some discussion here about it over the last couple of preseasons. I hope I'm wrong too and he kills it". Surely this young kid can't be hung out to dry because some discussion was had on a Forum that he is a "Bludger".

851 says he has had a charmed life since 2013.

One game in 2013 doesn't count does it? (if it does he was man of the match). So according to most people on here, he has played under two "no hoper" coaches and a caretaker coach and 3/4 of a season under Cleary. Played with a dominant, greedy, tanking, wanker of a partner at 5/8 (half a season with Tui who will not be 5/8 in 2018) and once again according to most in a second grade side for 2 and 1/2 seasons.

Well, what a charmed life this kid has had - sack him immediately!!!!

 

[Tim Sheens]

Why do people persist in thinking that you can play anyone in the centre and it will work?

Reynolds is NOT a centre - to suddenly equate Reynolds with SKD and Lyon (probably the best centre in the past 10 years) is ludicrous. Benji got away with it once, h is defence is not good enough to make it a permanent position. Centre is a specialised and very important position - something that is more evident when someone is not a centre plays there.

I would also like to know who came up with "Brooks is a bludger during the off season" - where is the proof of this? Has one of our previous coaches said this?, one of our other players?

Old man tiger wrote that he is, when questioned he came up with "No inside info mate. Remember some discussion here about it over the last couple of preseasons. I hope I'm wrong too and he kills it". Surely this young kid can't be hung out to dry because some discussion was had on a Forum that he is a "Bludger".

851 says he has had a charmed life since 2013.

One game in 2013 doesn't count does it? (if it does he was man of the match). So according to most people on here, he has played under two "no hoper" coaches and a caretaker coach and 3/4 of a season under Cleary. Played with a dominant, greedy, tanking, wanker of a partner at 5/8 (half a season with Tui who will not be 5/8 in 2018) and once again according to most in a second grade side for 2 and 1/2 seasons.

Well, what a charmed life this kid has had - sack him immediately!!!!

I like it Russ and a lot at that, though to be fair to OMT, pretty sure the training issue was confirmed by a reputable member at the time, so I also believe it.

Also sick of the death riding on Luke. He has played eighty odd games because he is a first grader, not the best one, but not the worst either. Alexander knows his halves and rates him as around the tenth best and still improving.

 

[old_man_tiger]

Why do people persist in thinking that you can play anyone in the centre and it will work?

Reynolds is NOT a centre - to suddenly equate Reynolds with SKD and Lyon (probably the best centre in the past 10 years) is ludicrous. Benji got away with it once, h is defence is not good enough to make it a permanent position. Centre is a specialised and very important position - something that is more evident when someone is not a centre plays there.

I would also like to know who came up with "Brooks is a bludger during the off season" - where is the proof of this? Has one of our previous coaches said this?, one of our other players?

Old man tiger wrote that he is, when questioned he came up with "No inside info mate. Remember some discussion here about it over the last couple of preseasons. I hope I'm wrong too and he kills it". Surely this young kid can't be hung out to dry because some discussion was had on a Forum that he is a "Bludger".

851 says he has had a charmed life since 2013.

One game in 2013 doesn't count does it? (if it does he was man of the match). So according to most people on here, he has played under two "no hoper" coaches and a caretaker coach and 3/4 of a season under Cleary. Played with a dominant, greedy, tanking, wanker of a partner at 5/8 (half a season with Tui who will not be 5/8 in 2018) and once again according to most in a second grade side for 2 and 1/2 seasons.

Well, what a charmed life this kid has had - sack him immediately!!!!

No disrespect to Brooks. Have said we should persist multiple times mate, just not indefinitely.

It was more talk than someone calling him a bludger, but as I've acknowledged It's not based on something I know first hand.

 

[Russell]

Why do people persist in thinking that you can play anyone in the centre and it will work?

Reynolds is NOT a centre - to suddenly equate Reynolds with SKD and Lyon (probably the best centre in the past 10 years) is ludicrous. Benji got away with it once, h is defence is not good enough to make it a permanent position. Centre is a specialised and very important position - something that is more evident when someone is not a centre plays there.

I would also like to know who came up with "Brooks is a bludger during the off season" - where is the proof of this? Has one of our previous coaches said this?, one of our other players?

Old man tiger wrote that he is, when questioned he came up with "No inside info mate. Remember some discussion here about it over the last couple of preseasons. I hope I'm wrong too and he kills it". Surely this young kid can't be hung out to dry because some discussion was had on a Forum that he is a "Bludger".

851 says he has had a charmed life since 2013.

One game in 2013 doesn't count does it? (if it does he was man of the match). So according to most people on here, he has played under two "no hoper" coaches and a caretaker coach and 3/4 of a season under Cleary. Played with a dominant, greedy, tanking, wanker of a partner at 5/8 (half a season with Tui who will not be 5/8 in 2018) and once again according to most in a second grade side for 2 and 1/2 seasons.

Well, what a charmed life this kid has had - sack him immediately!!!!

No disrespect to Brooks. Have said we should persist multiple times mate, just not indefinitely.

It was more talk than someone calling him a bludger, but as I've acknowledged It's not based on something I know first hand.

All good OMT - more the idea it does not seem fact than having a go at you.

I think he will come good over this pre season and with a decent pack going forward, decent 5/8 with him and top FB chiming in - I think he'll have more options which will see him improve greatly.

Mostly think he and Liddle should work on their short kicking games over the break.

 

[Tacky]

Brooks will start the year at 7, Reynolds at 6, Tui at 1 and Liddle at 9\. Form and injuries will determine any changes throughout the year.

 

[Russell]

Brooks will start the year at 7, Reynolds at 6, Tui at 1 and Liddle at 9\. Form and injuries will determine any changes throughout the year.

I see it the same way Tacky.

 

[TrueTiger]

Brooks will start the year at 7, Reynolds at 6, Tui at 1 and Liddle at 9\. Form and injuries will determine any changes throughout the year.

I see it the same way Tacky.

Yes Tacky, you and Russell both have the right opinion regarding Brooks,however I will say,and I don't care how hard you both hammer me,Brooks has been given a great path into NRL because of his spectacular form in NYC and backing from the club…if he was a true talented halfback he would have taken control of this team long ago and even told slimey Moses to move aside and do as he is told,thats what contolling the team is about..to be honest he is a shy kid still coming out of his shell ..if that's what we want then leave him develop for another 3 or 4 years..Thurston got a kick in the arse when the Dogs didn't want him...how far has he gone ??? maybe Brooks needs the same...Iwill leabve you guys to ponder... 😱pen_mouth: