Luke Brooks

[Harvey]

Likely to benefit from having a professional coach who is interested in developing him, rather than one who seems better suited to the under 10’s, given his obsession with having his son in the side

 

[mike]

Mike, he can’t control a game.
He literally only had one good game a month last year.
Dally Ms are a nice feather but they certainly do not tell the proper story.
His kicking game is bang average.
He goes missing in big moments.
He throws masses of hospital passes.
His fifth tackle options are just not top class.

Listen, he isn’t SOO or any rep simply because he isn’t good enough. YET.

He very well might get to a higher level, but that will come with playing consistently at the level he plays for that one game a month.

We ALL hope he gets there, but perhaps before shooting down everyone who knocks Brooks, all the Brooks fan club May just want to review last years games (and every other year).
Brooks fans wear rosy glasses every off season. I really don’t know why.
He is good. It’s a good signing.
Let’s not get carried away.

Thanks for the common sense.

Thanks for your insight. A follow up question if I may. Who of the 2019 NRL halfbacks would either of you consider to be top class?

How many games a month did the forward pack give our halves the opportunity to win the game?

Can ask you mike why did he not deserve the best halfback at club level?

Have a look at Maloney
SOO halfback
One of the games worst defenders.
Throws more intercept passes than I have ever seen.
Has a real strain on the playing group after a few seasons.
And goes missing when the forwards don’t show up.
Would be on big money.

Bent Hunt
Enough said.

Cleary
On over a million while there rest of squad are made up of McQueen’s and Godinet’s.

Corey Norman
Enough said

Cameron Munster
Same as Cleary

What decent half back would we be able sign that is on their way up that would be 750k a season and Dally M medal winner(not that it means much), Call it rose coloured glasses mike but it’s a smart signing.
Oh and I think Luke Brooks to be top class in 2019

I don’t disagree with anything you have said.

 

[Cultured_Bogan]

Considering there's guys who are on $1m plus who are bog average at Origin and international level and cost their teams routinely with better squads than ours, I'm happy where we're at with Luke.

 

[newtiger]

It astounds me that with the amount of footy expertise on this forum some expect Brooks to be a star in an average team.
Now I’m not putting myself out there as an expert on footy at an elite level but I played and coached (and watched) enough footy to know that when a forward pack does not win the battle up front, the half suffers. Also when ball from the ruck is slow or inconsistent, the half suffers. Brooks has had both these go against him fairly consistently.
Even his 5th tackle plays are effected when we are not getting a roll on.

I think all things considered we should be bloody thankful the kid has a passion for our club and is willing to stick it out

Totally agree Steve

 

[Spartan117]

Some Great posts above about the man himself, the team and the club.

We have to change things up is the bottom line.

We have a good start with Cleary, and whilst it looked like yet another fault start we have landed up with a better coach than before in Madge.

Positives a Plenty
The Back office is sound
The Centre of excellence is being mooted (Concord is a Dump)
We have player recruitment and retention options (I think we need another 2 recruiting cycles to get to where we want to be).

We need a few more players that will make the club more attractive.

Newcastle were in a worse position….

 

[TonyTiger]

Likely to benefit from having a professional coach who is interested in developing him, rather than one who seems better suited to the under 10’s, given his obsession with having his son in the side

You nailed it.

 

[Cultured_Bogan]

Likely to benefit from having a professional coach who is interested in developing him, rather than one who seems better suited to the under 10’s, given his obsession with having his son in the side

You nailed it.

Hopefully Madge has our forwards run the ball rather than using them as defenders, that'll aid Brooksy's game. Both Packer and Matulino are capable of it, they did it regularly at the Dragons and Warriors.

 

[joelw2002]

That's the spirit Brooksy, Get that up ya Roosters, you thought you had him for 2020\. $3 million over 4 years, that's $750k a year for the Dally M halfback of the year, probably far less than what the Roosters would of offered him. Knowing the Roosters they probably would of offered him $900k a season with about $350k extra a year in brown paper bags.

Roosters never thought they had him.

Well there were rumours that the Roosters were after Luke Brooks for 2020.

 

[Snake]

The one feature that stands out above all for me is Luke’s loyalty to the club which is in very short supply these days !

 

[Swordy]

Luke Brooks is not the best halfback in the comp, but 14 other teams don't have the best halfback either.

He is certainly Top 6, if not higher.

He is young.

He is loyal.

He doesn't give up and when he has some good support around him he really shines. In fact, he really glistens when the forwards are on top.

I'll take him and build the club around this bloke.

Thank you and goodnight.

 

[Guest]

That's the spirit Brooksy, Get that up ya Roosters, you thought you had him for 2020\. $3 million over 4 years, that's $750k a year for the Dally M halfback of the year, probably far less than what the Roosters would of offered him. Knowing the Roosters they probably would of offered him $900k a season with about $350k extra a year in brown paper bags.

Roosters never thought they had him.

Well there were rumours that the Roosters were after Luke Brooks for 2020.

Rumours being the operative word. Too many on here fall for that nonsense

 

[Guest]

To this day he has never played behind a top shelf forward pack. A lot of people seem to forget that. We were 2nd last or something rubbish in post contact metres this season, a halfbacks job becomes a hell of a lot more difficult when the ruck isn't being won or controlled. In the games we did do this, Brooks was always one of our best.

Tell me something i dont know.

This is not my point. My point is that until he actually. I mean ACTUALLY goes to that next level we dont know if this signing is good value or not.

If you can argue against the point im making please go ahead. . .

Not to argue but to offer perspective.
Brooks = Emerging blues squad member
Dally M half of the year
22yo with 107 first grade games
Kieth Barnes medalist
Local junior
And when the forward pack is firing I don’t remember seeing brooks go missing.

You ask is he value?
That’s your decision, but at 750k I believe it is.
What other halfback would we sign for that money who is on the way up?

My god this is boring. Ive already said he is a good signing. All im saying is i dont think it is a great signing. It may well be but not one of us can say that until he goes to that origin type level and earns that contract that 5 years was a good decision.

Why not? Plenty of people on here with different opinions to your own. I would argue winning Dally M halfback of the year is a pretty significant achievement for a bloke that played behind a forward pack which was beaten for half the season.

 

[rex2ce]

He obviously wants to be here,no matter how much he signed for, bet his house mate is envious of Luke’s loyalty

 

[goldcoast_tiger]

Likely to benefit from having a professional coach who is interested in developing him, rather than one who seems better suited to the under 10’s, given his obsession with having his son in the side

Hope that Madge has a different way of handling Brooks than he did with his half at Souths, he made a catch and pass robot out of Reynolds, and it wasn’t till Seibold rescued him that he started to show his real ability again last season,
4 million (if that’s right) will bring a lot of pressure on Luke and I hope
That he handles that well.

While I think he’s better now than previously, I still think that he’s not worth that sort of money( he’s not the only one that isn’t worth that money though) it’s not his fault that we are paying overs, but the worse part of the deal is that we are relying on backloading to do it,(if that’s what’s happening)
I hope he kills it, but if it doesn’t work out, it could get messy; as it has here before.
I thought that we’d learnt our lesson on back ending.
Apparently Not!

 

[goldcoast_tiger]

Seriously? What exactly does he have to do you in your eyes to be a top class halfback? Represent at SOO or Australian level? What criteria would you accept? Specifics please. Genuinely interested in what makes a top class halfback.

Mike, he can’t control a game.
He literally only had one good game a month last year.
Dally Ms are a nice feather but they certainly do not tell the proper story.
His kicking game is bang average.
He goes missing in big moments.
He throws masses of hospital passes.
His fifth tackle options are just not top class.

Listen, he isn’t SOO or any rep simply because he isn’t good enough. YET.

He very well might get to a higher level, but that will come with playing consistently at the level he plays for that one game a month.

We ALL hope he gets there, but perhaps before shooting down everyone who knocks Brooks, all the Brooks fan club May just want to review last years games (and every other year).
Brooks fans wear rosy glasses every off season. I really don’t know why.
He is good. It’s a good signing.
Let’s not get carried away.

Thanks for the common sense.

Thanks for your insight. A follow up question if I may. Who of the 2019 NRL halfbacks would either of you consider to be top class?

Not many, but that doesn’t mean that he is , or ever will be. Just that there’s not an over supply of top halves.
And his game management IS pretty ordinary .
I just wish that I had more confidence that Madge will make a big difference

 

[jadtiger]

Likely to benefit from having a professional coach who is interested in developing him, rather than one who seems better suited to the under 10’s, given his obsession with having his son in the side

Hope that Madge has a different way of handling Brooks than he did with his half at Souths, he made a catch and pass robot out of Reynolds, and it wasn’t till Seibold rescued him that he started to show his real ability again last season,
4 million (if that’s right) will bring a lot of pressure on Luke and I hope
That he handles that well.

While I think he’s better now than previously, I still think that he’s not worth that sort of money( he’s not the only one that isn’t worth that money though) it’s not his fault that we are paying overs, but the worse part of the deal is that we are relying on backloading to do it,(if that’s what’s happening)
I hope he kills it, but if it doesn’t work out, it could get messy; as it has here before.
I thought that we’d learnt our lesson on back ending.
Apparently Not!

You are guessing that it is a backloaded contract that the club has agreed to.Not a good idea imho

 

[Byron_Bay_Fan]

I do not follow stats on individual games etc but I thought he played best when Farah gets involved and Luke as the finisher. Maybe that is not how it is supposed to be but it often worked. So "young Farah" (Liddle) is vital to be on the paddock full time 2020 (now ins calm down)

 

[Russell]

I do not follow stats on individual games etc but I thought he played best when Farah gets involved and Luke as the finisher. Maybe that is not how it is supposed to be but it often worked. So "young Farah" (Liddle) is vital to be on the paddock full time 2020 (now ins calm down)

I object to "Young Farah" - more like "Old Liddle" BBF.

 

[Byron_Bay_Fan]

I do not follow stats on individual games etc but I thought he played best when Farah gets involved and Luke as the finisher. Maybe that is not how it is supposed to be but it often worked. So "young Farah" (Liddle) is vital to be on the paddock full time 2020 (now ins calm down)

I object to "Young Farah" - more like "Old Liddle" BBF.

we will have it both ways - many a good tune is played on an old Fiddle

we can both vouch for that!

 

[Silentio]

I often bag management, but they got this signing right and deserve some kudos.

Dally M half of the year and one of our juniors.

Great work.