Luke Brooks's defence

[MacDougall]

Ever since he got successfully targeted by the Dragons in round one there has been week on week improvement in Brooks's defence. As of the last round vs. Manly it's gotten to the stage where I don't really feel that teams are going to automatically see targeting him as a catch-all solution anymore, already after only five games.

His defence isn't exactly rock solid of course, he does bounce off tackles, but what he does do is tackle smart. He goes for shots at the ball when he knows that he has nearby cover and him bouncing off is not going to be a problem. He covers his man long enough for the attacker to make a decision on whether to keep the ball moving or take him on without committing to the tackle and being shaken off, giving himself enough time to find fellow defenders after collision up high backing up wrapping the ball up for offloads. He gets involved in defence where the opposition would not be expecting to be finding a little halfback in their face, the psychological implications of which are increasing confidence in his teammates and putting the opposition into two minds as to whether to bother targeting him. So far I believe I've seen sides go away from game plans to rush his side of the field due to simply not getting anywhere in doing so.

For a smallish 19 year old halfback to already be a pretty admirable defender in first grade says as much for his future as any of his trick shots and attacking prowess. He's already better than most of the halfbacks in the NRL in attack and defence. How good is that? Seriously stack him up against the current NRL number 7s and measure 2014 performances for performances and he ranks right up there already. No teething required for this kid.

 

[Milky]

Averages 6 mixed tackles a game and currently leads the comp with missed tackles but I do see improvement.

 

[Juro]

I also remember seeing somewhere that he ranks very high in forcing opposition errors, eg the ball he knocked out against Manly for what would have been Woods' 2nd try.

 

[pHyR3]

he's traveling decently, wouldnt say he is already able to be compared to carney, reynolds, JT, cronk even pierce at all really.

by the middle to end of the season we can maybe start to do that.

i was surprised by his lack of flair on sunday, with that scoreline you'd think our halves would have had a field day when in fact they were both not massively involved like they were vs titans.

 

[Spartan117]

I was watching the game on the train this morning and Brooks defense is one aspect of the game that really caught my eye.

The intent and heart shown was tremendous for the young man.

I am very impressed and if he or someone close to him reads this I ask that he keeps doing exactly what it is that he is doing.

Hate to label but indeed there are striking similarities to one A Johns and we know how that ended up.

Rapidly becoming a family favorite amongs my 4 mini tigers.

 

[MacDougall]

he's traveling decently, wouldnt say he is already able to be compared to carney, reynolds, JT, cronk even pierce at all really.

by the middle to end of the season we can maybe start to do that.

i was surprised by his lack of flair on sunday, with that scoreline you'd think our halves would have had a field day when in fact they were both not massively involved like they were vs titans.

Okay well

1\. Pearce and A Reynolds (I assume you were talking about that one?) have been nowhere near as effective as Brooks, and all the stats back it up.
2\. I said "he's already better than most of the halfbacks" and you named two (maybe 3 if you meant Josh) five-eighths.

Line up the starting halfbacks and tell me who of them is better than 19 year old Luke Brooks as of the 9th of April 2014 if you like and I'll call you a liar if it's more than DCE, Cronk and a couple of others at best.

As for the missed tackles he's made I think you'll find he's league leading because of the two games Liam Fulton missed.

 

[pHyR3]

he's traveling decently, wouldnt say he is already able to be compared to carney, reynolds, JT, cronk even pierce at all really.

by the middle to end of the season we can maybe start to do that.

i was surprised by his lack of flair on sunday, with that scoreline you'd think our halves would have had a field day when in fact they were both not massively involved like they were vs titans.

Okay well

1\. Pearce and A Reynolds (I assume you were talking about that one?) have been nowhere near as effective as Brooks, and all the stats back it up.
2\. I said "he's already better than most of the halfbacks" and you named two (maybe 3 if you meant Josh) five-eighths.

Line up the starting halfbacks and tell me who of them is better than 19 year old Luke Brooks as of the 9th of April 2014 if you like and I'll call you a liar if it's more than DCE, Cronk and a couple of others at best.

As for the missed tackles he's made I think you'll find he's league leading because of the two games Liam Fulton missed.

haha chill, he's doing fine. but you can't say he's a better player than DCE, cronk, widdop, either reynolds, JT, pierce, maloney, soward, sutton, carney or foran after a handful of FG games.

what was he doing in our routing of manly for instance? very little to be honest, a player who is better than a handful of halves in the NRL should be going great if we're up 26-0.

class player, but needs a little more than 6 nrl games before you can say he's better than premiership winners and origin leaders.

 

[MacDougall]

You've still named only 3 NRL halfbacks. The rest of the players you named are five-eighths.

 

[tig_prmz]

pearce's defense is amazing. in my short time watching NRL- i've never seen a half defend as good as pearce.

you nailed it when you said 'he defends smart'. no one quite noticed it but benji used to defend smart as well by rushing out of the line and putting pressure on the playmaker. when you manage to stop the playmaker, but don't tackle him- it's considered a missed tackle in stats but practically imo you're doing your team a massive favour.

pearce on the other hand defends like a second rower. i remember his defense against thaiday in origin. he didn't take one backward step. same goes with foran. both are class.

 

[stevetiger]

I don't think his defence is poor for a player of his size. He will get run over at times though.

The thing is though I feel confident that the kid will be a solid player.

 

[Fraze23]

he's traveling decently, wouldnt say he is already able to be compared to carney, reynolds, JT, cronk even pierce at all really.

by the middle to end of the season we can maybe start to do that.

i was surprised by his lack of flair on sunday, with that scoreline you'd think our halves would have had a field day when in fact they were both not massively involved like they were vs titans.

Okay well

1\. Pearce and A Reynolds (I assume you were talking about that one?) have been nowhere near as effective as Brooks, and all the stats back it up.
2\. I said "he's already better than most of the halfbacks" and you named two (maybe 3 if you meant Josh) five-eighths.

Line up the starting halfbacks and tell me who of them is better than 19 year old Luke Brooks as of the 9th of April 2014 if you like and I'll call you a liar if it's more than DCE, Cronk and a couple of others at best.

As for the missed tackles he's made I think you'll find he's league leading because of the two games Liam Fulton missed.

haha chill, he's doing fine. but you can't say he's a better player than DCE, cronk, widdop, either reynolds, JT, pierce, maloney, soward, sutton, carney or foran after a handful of FG games.

**what was he doing in our routing of manly for instance? very little to be honest**, a player who is better than a handful of halves in the NRL should be going great if we're up 26-0.

class player, but needs a little more than 6 nrl games before you can say he's better than premiership winners and origin leaders.

He did his job against Manly and didn't overplay his hand in a wet weather game dominated by the forwards. It's a valuable skill for a half to know when less is more.

 

[king_sirro]

Averages 6 mixed tackles a game and currently leads the comp with missed tackles but I do see improvement.

Never look at missed tackle stats. They dont show the true story. Sometimes a missed tackle is actually a player coming up with a big play that allows others times to shut a dicey situation down

 

[Tiger_Watto]

The defense we see is pretty good for a young kid…

But there is plenty of poor reads and lots of lack of concentration out there that the 'stats' guy @ NRL.Com isnt recording, that the opposition will be working on.

Defensively he is a liability, but having him out there learning is more important at this stage of his development.

_Posted using RoarFEED V.4_

 

[Tigerdon]

He played mistake free, wet weather footy. Momentum could have easily changed Manly's way, if the Tigers kept dropping the ball….
Brooks was solid.

 

[Cultured_Bogan]

pearce's defense is amazing. in my short time watching NRL- i've never seen a half defend as good as pearce.

you nailed it when you said 'he defends smart'. no one quite noticed it but benji used to defend smart as well by rushing out of the line and putting pressure on the playmaker. when you manage to stop the playmaker, but don't tackle him- it's considered a missed tackle in stats but practically imo you're doing your team a massive favour.

pearce on the other hand defends like a second rower. i remember his defense against thaiday in origin. he didn't take one backward step. same goes with foran. both are class.

Pearce had want to be a good defender, he has no clue with the pill in hand.

 

[flash]

Watching Luke play League for many years he was always one of the best defenders in his age group, he has slowly been making adjustments with obvious increases in size and strength that he is now up against.
He is already improving that side of his game and I have no doubt that by the end of the year the only talk about his defence will be on how good it is.

 

[happy_tiger]

It will take him a season or two to adjust to the defensive needs required

The good thing is apart from the Saints game I can't remember any ugly defensive misses

 

[Tiger_Watto]

**It will take him a season or two to adjust to the defensive needs required**
The good thing is apart from the Saints game I can't remember any ugly defensive misses

^^ this ^^

exactly… 1-2 years of NRL before he will know where to be and what to do the majority of time.

3-4 in is a pretty tough place to read considering how many big and mobile blokes are running in your zone!

His biggest asset is his 'attitude'... Cant fault it!

 

[bp_tiger]

I agree since round one he has been pretty good, but he will take all year to get not only his defence right but his attacking game going in the right direction all with his defence. Coming along really well. Just on another note is Moses not older than Brooks, so why are we all worried about his defence as well?

 

[Tiger_In_The_Gong]

Watching Luke play League for many years he was always one of the best defenders in his age group, he has slowly been making adjustments with obvious increases in size and strength that he is now up against.
He is already improving that side of his game and I have no doubt that by the end of the year the only talk about his defence will be on how good it is.

Im already happy with it, he like every other half back in the comp gets targeted and will miss a few tackles.

Luke is impressing though, he is getting his body in front of people and banging with his shoulder, I dont need to wait to the end of the year to be impressed, I see what you see.