Brooks developed nicely in 2018\. His kicking control improved. His forced in goal/repeat sets were up there with the best. In 2018 was one of the best defensive halfbacks. Probably surpassed by Pearce and Cleary. His try assists and try scoring ability were very good.
Nathan Cleary has Maloney outside him who is a great game manager. DCE can be a good game manager but can go missing as well.
For most halves the game management doesn't come till later in there career. Nathan Cleary started well in this area but has a great forward pack in front of him and Maloney next to him.
Matty John's on JT.
"There's three key developments to Johnathan Thurston," Johns said.
"Number one was his physical transformation. When you look back at him at the Bulldogs, honestly, the biggest part of JT were his ears. It's a fantastic lesson to young men who play the sport and are late developers.
"Secondly, the development as a footballer. He first came to the Bulldogs in the mid-2000s and he looked like a rabbit trying to find a hole in a barbwire fence. He was a ducker and a darter, but I didn't see a brilliant slight of hand that you see these days. He was all effort, but he was essentially a runner.
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"Then he went to the Cowboys, turned up with Matty Bowen. They just played middle-third football, essentially both of them terrorizing the opposition with footwork, speed and understanding. All of a sudden, he starts to learn his craft and you see the brilliance comes in.
"The final evolution was Johnathan Thurston the man. As a young bloke, he was a scallywag, he was really cheeky. In the last five or six years, he's evolved into being one of the greatest role models that the sport has ever seen. In a lot of ways, he's turned his life around, not that he was ever a bad bastard, but now he's so good, on and off the field."