Signings, Suggestions & Rumours Discussion

[Mighty_Tiger]

Get rid of Brooks. Hasting and Douhei are the future. If Douhei is out, replace him with a good defender.

Doueihi is out. Brooks is a good defender.

Brooks' defensive stats last year say otherwise. Most missed tackles of anyone at the club

Source: Trust me bro

Source NRL.com smartass. 6th most missed tackles in the NRL. Luke Brooks. Missed 76 in 24 games. Missed 3.17 tackles per game

https://www.nrl.com/stats/players/?competition=111&season=2021&stat=4

Munster, Hodgson, Whitehead and even our new recruit Api averaged more missed tackles than Brooks per game.

What is interesting is if you compare halfbacks Brooks also made 100 more tackles than any other halfback that played close to same amount of games

People are sooo critical of Brooks that they fail to realise how bad the edge is as such teams can drive 10-15% workload a game at him. The top teams protect the play makers so they can focus more effort in attack, Brooks doesn’t get that opportunity.

I have a history in NRL stats, clubs never look at 1 line they look at multiple to drive a strategy.

 

[tig_prmz]

We get rid of Hartigan and we start making moves.

What a surprise.

Can't believe that Hartigan was heralded as the Messiah when he came here from the Chooks, now he's just regarded as chicken shit.

Personally, I don't know what to believe but his reputation on this forum has certainly taken a nose dive since he has left the building.

His fans bailed during Kul's mod "kulling"

?

Well hartigan did go on their podcast.

haha but tbf they know the bloke so it makes sense they have an opinion of him

I've met Adam a few times, seemed a good knowledgeable guy. Whatever Hartigan's reputation is right now, it's almost certainly not accurate to the actual ability (or lack of) of the man himself. I have literally zero knowledge of what Adam Hartigan was doing behind the scenes, but he's no dummy that's for sure.

I think it's also a mistake to equate Hartigan's employment, and then not, as being some magic trigger for signings. Whilst I think the Summer time signings have been good, I wasn't in doubt that we'd see action over this period same as we have seen for several seasons now. Nobody knows for sure if Hartigan had something or anything to do with those signings, nor do we even know if some new person like Sheens got the chequebook out to make some recruitment happen.

And most crucially - we are yet to see if these decisions pan out. I've been hopeful for historical signings that turn out to be absolute custard. Hartigan was, after all, the guy overseeing the signatures of Doueihi, Stefano, Luciano, Laurie, Blore - our best up young players and likely the core of our future side.

I think it's far more complicated than people like to boil down into simply binaries of good/bad.


He was pretty trash, tbf. No evidence, besides him failing miserably at sealing the deal often.

But you don't know how or why that came about. That might have been 100% to do with Wests Tigers or the coach, not the recruitment guy.

I'm not defending Adam Hartigan - I don't claim to know the guy well or how he went about his role. I'm just pretty sure it's not so black or white, i.e. because Latrell didn't sign but Api Koroisau did, then Hartigan must have been trash.

I'll say it again - he got Stefano on board and Stef just might be the best Tigers signing in a decade.

The rest of it is just speculation, which is fine, but let's all remember to treat it as speculation not fact.

There's a pattern of badmouthing those who leave WT on this forum.

 

[stryker 69]

What rubbish , sheens won’t let brooks go fullstop

A number of people on here knock Brooks, but I had a look at the video showing the 'top tries' Wests put on last year and Brooks featured in many of these tries. His try assist stats from last year were decent. There is room for improvement in his game, particularly with last tackle options, but I personally hope we keep him. Letting him go without getting a player of equal value is just plain dumb.

Agreed. But what is his value really?

A bit.
His value is a good running game. Good handoff, can get over the line and can definately play.

His defense has improved but whole team needs to upgrade.

His value is not his weakness. His weakness is he does not think like a Half, does not organise or marshall the team, does not boss people around.
Move him or Fire him. Brooks nor Benji was ever a halfback.

You could sum up Wests Tigers very easily:
Still looking for a Halfback after Scott Prince left!

The interesting perspective on this is that when Scott Prince was here, a big chunk of the forum thought he should be moved to 5/8 because he wasn't a natural halfback. I remember people wanted a player by the name of Kieran Kerr to play 7. The year we won the comp this talk died down.

The whole "X is not a halfback" argument has happened ever since I can remember.

Brooks is a halfback, the question is, is he good enough?

Well, If Brooks is the halfback he needs to go.

Our defensive structure is haphazard and no one is organizing the team in defense. We often have overlaps and open spaces.

Our attack is moderately ok but our structure in attack is hopeless.

Now I want to put this radical idea that people can change positions. This actually worked for Chris Lawrence and IMHO could have worked for a fair number of players.

Ofcourse maybe we could get an organizing 5/8 in Hastings and Brooks keeps playing his 7 game. I honestly think that would work worse then moving Brooks to 5/8. Because you get 2 halfbacks then and with 2 halfbacks you get None.


Don’t worry about the numbers on their backs. Hastings and Brooks, and this is just my humble opinion based on hope and prayers, will be a revelation. If Brooks’s obvious talents get a little assistance from a reasonably capable footy head, he’ll show his potential, which is massive. Rip in now if you like but if I’m right, I want an apology by round 10.

Luke Keary was Rooster 6 and played on the left just as Brooks does. In fact, as good as Keary is/was his main problem was to crowd the Centre Mitchell & then Winger Topou by crabbing left whereas Brooks strength is his straight running dart to set up the outside backs. The problem is, we don't have a decent dummy half to get clean ball to the left sided Brooks. Hastings will provide an effective option simply cos of the unknown factor i.e. will he be the go to guy or will Brooks? Hopefully, the dummy halves have improved in the off season.

Couple of points here…
1. You claim crowding his runners (Mitchel and Topou) is/was Luke Keary’s biggest problem. The last 2 years those guys played together they won the comp.
2. You claim we don’t have a decent dummy half to get clean ball to Brooks on the left. If I am not mistaken, what you are stating here is that none of our dummy halves can pass effectively from right to left?
3. You have stated Hastings will provide an effective option because of the unknown factor. Can you elaborate on what this refers to and how this strengthens your argument that Brooks is not receiving clean ball?
4. You finish off by stating you hope the dummy halves have improved in the off season. This has some merit…however:

It would appear that you are making the claim that poor dummy half service is holding the performances back of Luke Brooks and the team’s results. This is incorrect and is yet another entry into the long list of excuses that are fabricated to protect this koala.
If only we could all be so charmed in our careers…

 

[stryker 69]

We get rid of Hartigan and we start making moves.

What a surprise.

Can't believe that Hartigan was heralded as the Messiah when he came here from the Chooks, now he's just regarded as chicken shit.

Personally, I don't know what to believe but his reputation on this forum has certainly taken a nose dive since he has left the building.

His fans bailed during Kul's mod "kulling"

?

Well hartigan did go on their podcast.

haha but tbf they know the bloke so it makes sense they have an opinion of him

I've met Adam a few times, seemed a good knowledgeable guy. Whatever Hartigan's reputation is right now, it's almost certainly not accurate to the actual ability (or lack of) of the man himself. I have literally zero knowledge of what Adam Hartigan was doing behind the scenes, but he's no dummy that's for sure.

I think it's also a mistake to equate Hartigan's employment, and then not, as being some magic trigger for signings. Whilst I think the Summer time signings have been good, I wasn't in doubt that we'd see action over this period same as we have seen for several seasons now. Nobody knows for sure if Hartigan had something or anything to do with those signings, nor do we even know if some new person like Sheens got the chequebook out to make some recruitment happen.

And most crucially - we are yet to see if these decisions pan out. I've been hopeful for historical signings that turn out to be absolute custard. Hartigan was, after all, the guy overseeing the signatures of Doueihi, Stefano, Luciano, Laurie, Blore - our best up young players and likely the core of our future side.

I think it's far more complicated than people like to boil down into simply binaries of good/bad.


He was pretty trash, tbf. No evidence, besides him failing miserably at sealing the deal often.

But you don't know how or why that came about. That might have been 100% to do with Wests Tigers or the coach, not the recruitment guy.

I'm not defending Adam Hartigan - I don't claim to know the guy well or how he went about his role. I'm just pretty sure it's not so black or white, i.e. because Latrell didn't sign but Api Koroisau did, then Hartigan must have been trash.

I'll say it again - he got Stefano on board and Stef just might be the best Tigers signing in a decade.

The rest of it is just speculation, which is fine, but let's all remember to treat it as speculation not fact.

There's a pattern of badmouthing those who leave WT on this forum.

A lot of us though he was no good when he was here. We just got shouted down.

 

[Mighty_Tiger]

What rubbish , sheens won’t let brooks go fullstop

A number of people on here knock Brooks, but I had a look at the video showing the 'top tries' Wests put on last year and Brooks featured in many of these tries. His try assist stats from last year were decent. There is room for improvement in his game, particularly with last tackle options, but I personally hope we keep him. Letting him go without getting a player of equal value is just plain dumb.

Agreed. But what is his value really?

A bit.
His value is a good running game. Good handoff, can get over the line and can definately play.

His defense has improved but whole team needs to upgrade.

His value is not his weakness. His weakness is he does not think like a Half, does not organise or marshall the team, does not boss people around.
Move him or Fire him. Brooks nor Benji was ever a halfback.

You could sum up Wests Tigers very easily:
Still looking for a Halfback after Scott Prince left!

The interesting perspective on this is that when Scott Prince was here, a big chunk of the forum thought he should be moved to 5/8 because he wasn't a natural halfback. I remember people wanted a player by the name of Kieran Kerr to play 7. The year we won the comp this talk died down.

The whole "X is not a halfback" argument has happened ever since I can remember.

Brooks is a halfback, the question is, is he good enough?

Well, If Brooks is the halfback he needs to go.

Our defensive structure is haphazard and no one is organizing the team in defense. We often have overlaps and open spaces.

Our attack is moderately ok but our structure in attack is hopeless.

Now I want to put this radical idea that people can change positions. This actually worked for Chris Lawrence and IMHO could have worked for a fair number of players.

Ofcourse maybe we could get an organizing 5/8 in Hastings and Brooks keeps playing his 7 game. I honestly think that would work worse then moving Brooks to 5/8. Because you get 2 halfbacks then and with 2 halfbacks you get None.


Don’t worry about the numbers on their backs. Hastings and Brooks, and this is just my humble opinion based on hope and prayers, will be a revelation. If Brooks’s obvious talents get a little assistance from a reasonably capable footy head, he’ll show his potential, which is massive. Rip in now if you like but if I’m right, I want an apology by round 10.

Luke Keary was Rooster 6 and played on the left just as Brooks does. In fact, as good as Keary is/was his main problem was to crowd the Centre Mitchell & then Winger Topou by crabbing left whereas Brooks strength is his straight running dart to set up the outside backs. The problem is, we don't have a decent dummy half to get clean ball to the left sided Brooks. Hastings will provide an effective option simply cos of the unknown factor i.e. will he be the go to guy or will Brooks? Hopefully, the dummy halves have improved in the off season.

Couple of points here…
1. You claim crowding his runners (Mitchel and Topou) is/was Luke Keary’s biggest problem. The last 2 years those guys played together they won the comp.
2. You claim we don’t have a decent dummy half to get clean ball to Brooks on the left. If I am not mistaken, what you are stating here is that none of our dummy halves can pass effectively from right to left?
3. You have stated Hastings will provide an effective option because of the unknown factor. Can you elaborate on what this refers to and how this strengthens your argument that Brooks is not receiving clean ball?
4. You finish off by stating you hope the dummy halves have improved in the off season. This has some merit…however:

It would appear that you are making the claim that poor dummy half service is holding the performances back of Luke Brooks and the team’s results. This is incorrect and is yet another entry into the long list of excuses that are fabricated to protect this koala.
If only we could all be so charmed in our careers…

Dummy half isn’t Brooks issue.
Madge has tried to make him play a game that isn’t his style. Brooks hasn’t been the right fit for Madge ball.
If Madge changes his direction in 2022 maybe hope otherwise cut Brooks because he isn’t the right fit.

 

[gallagher]

What rubbish , sheens won’t let brooks go fullstop

A number of people on here knock Brooks, but I had a look at the video showing the 'top tries' Wests put on last year and Brooks featured in many of these tries. His try assist stats from last year were decent. There is room for improvement in his game, particularly with last tackle options, but I personally hope we keep him. Letting him go without getting a player of equal value is just plain dumb.

Agreed. But what is his value really?

A bit.
His value is a good running game. Good handoff, can get over the line and can definately play.

His defense has improved but whole team needs to upgrade.

His value is not his weakness. His weakness is he does not think like a Half, does not organise or marshall the team, does not boss people around.
Move him or Fire him. Brooks nor Benji was ever a halfback.

You could sum up Wests Tigers very easily:
Still looking for a Halfback after Scott Prince left!

The interesting perspective on this is that when Scott Prince was here, a big chunk of the forum thought he should be moved to 5/8 because he wasn't a natural halfback. I remember people wanted a player by the name of Kieran Kerr to play 7. The year we won the comp this talk died down.

The whole "X is not a halfback" argument has happened ever since I can remember.

Brooks is a halfback, the question is, is he good enough?

Well, If Brooks is the halfback he needs to go.

Our defensive structure is haphazard and no one is organizing the team in defense. We often have overlaps and open spaces.

Our attack is moderately ok but our structure in attack is hopeless.

Now I want to put this radical idea that people can change positions. This actually worked for Chris Lawrence and IMHO could have worked for a fair number of players.

Ofcourse maybe we could get an organizing 5/8 in Hastings and Brooks keeps playing his 7 game. I honestly think that would work worse then moving Brooks to 5/8. Because you get 2 halfbacks then and with 2 halfbacks you get None.


Don’t worry about the numbers on their backs. Hastings and Brooks, and this is just my humble opinion based on hope and prayers, will be a revelation. If Brooks’s obvious talents get a little assistance from a reasonably capable footy head, he’ll show his potential, which is massive. Rip in now if you like but if I’m right, I want an apology by round 10.

Luke Keary was Rooster 6 and played on the left just as Brooks does. In fact, as good as Keary is/was his main problem was to crowd the Centre Mitchell & then Winger Topou by crabbing left whereas Brooks strength is his straight running dart to set up the outside backs. The problem is, we don't have a decent dummy half to get clean ball to the left sided Brooks. Hastings will provide an effective option simply cos of the unknown factor i.e. will he be the go to guy or will Brooks? Hopefully, the dummy halves have improved in the off season.

Couple of points here…
1. You claim crowding his runners (Mitchel and Topou) is/was Luke Keary’s biggest problem. The last 2 years those guys played together they won the comp.
2. You claim we don’t have a decent dummy half to get clean ball to Brooks on the left. If I am not mistaken, what you are stating here is that none of our dummy halves can pass effectively from right to left?
3. You have stated Hastings will provide an effective option because of the unknown factor. Can you elaborate on what this refers to and how this strengthens your argument that Brooks is not receiving clean ball?
4. You finish off by stating you hope the dummy halves have improved in the off season. This has some merit…however:

It would appear that you are making the claim that poor dummy half service is holding the performances back of Luke Brooks and the team’s results. This is incorrect and is yet another entry into the long list of excuses that are fabricated to protect this koala.
If only we could all be so charmed in our careers…

Dummy half isn’t Brooks issue.
Madge has tried to make him play a game that isn’t his style. Brooks hasn’t been the right fit for Madge ball.
If Madge changes his direction in 2022 maybe hope otherwise cut Brooks because he isn’t the right fit.

What's the game plan that he can't handle?

 

[Lee's fedora]

Brooks hasnt been right for our past 3 coaches maybe the problem is brooks

 

[stryker 69]

Brooks hasnt been right for our past 3 coaches maybe the problem is brooks

Heaven forbid…

 

[Bones]

Brooks hasnt been right for our past 3 coaches maybe the problem is brooks

He won halfback of the year under our previous coach… but don’t let facts get in the way.

Couldn’t this all go in one of the 17 Luke Brooks threads available?

 

[Bones]

Brooks hasnt been right for our past 3 coaches maybe the problem is brooks

He won halfback of the year under our previous coach… but don’t let facts get in the way.

Couldn’t this all go in one of the 17 Luke Brooks threads available? It’s getting pretty boring.

 

[Wildcat777]

Brooks hasnt been right for our past 3 coaches maybe the problem is brooks

Wow you are relentless. On and on, always repeating. Gets really boring reading…. We know your opinion. Don’t have to shove it down our throats every hour. Just a heads up, don’t mean to be negative but enough is enough, for goodness sake.

 

[stryker 69]

Brooks hasnt been right for our past 3 coaches maybe the problem is brooks

He won halfback of the year under our previous coach… but don’t let facts get in the way.

Couldn’t this all go in one of the 17 Luke Brooks threads available?

If you think he was the best halfback that year then you don’t know rugby league.

 

[Lee's fedora]

@Wildcat777 how bout no?

 

[Hbom]

Take it to the Brooks thread please.

 

[boonboon]

Brooks hasnt been right for our past 3 coaches maybe the problem is brooks

He won halfback of the year under our previous coach… but don’t let facts get in the way.

Couldn’t this all go in one of the 17 Luke Brooks threads available?

If you think he was the best halfback that year then you don’t know rugby league.

I will say though we played last year with a spine where Laurie had never played NRL, Simpkin had never played NRL, Douehi had never played a single game at 5/8 in the NRL and Liddle had played 10 games as an NRL starting hooker. Any other team in the NRL going in with 3 spine members effectively rookies and youd exprct them to come last. That tells me Brooks did fairly well last year

 

[cktiger]

Brooks hasnt been right for our past 3 coaches maybe the problem is brooks

He won halfback of the year under our previous coach… but don’t let facts get in the way.

Couldn’t this all go in one of the 17 Luke Brooks threads available?

If you think he was the best halfback that year then you don’t know rugby league.

I will say though we played last year with a spine where Laurie had never played NRL, Simpkin had never played NRL, Douehi had never played a single game at 5/8 in the NRL and Liddle had played 10 games as an NRL starting hooker. Any other team in the NRL going in with 3 spine members effectively rookies and youd exprct them to come last. That tells me Brooks did fairly well last year

Considering he's played over 150 games he didn't do much to help the rookies.
He's a myth - can tackle front on ok and that's it.
Is that really what we want, or need, in a halfback?

 

[Bones]

Brooks hasnt been right for our past 3 coaches maybe the problem is brooks

He won halfback of the year under our previous coach… but don’t let facts get in the way.

Couldn’t this all go in one of the 17 Luke Brooks threads available?

If you think he was the best halfback that year then you don’t know rugby league.

I never said he was, but the fact you can’t even acknowledge that he played well under Ivan Cleary tells me all I need to know about your knowledge of the game.

 

[Eternal Tiger]

Brooks hasnt been right for our past 3 coaches maybe the problem is brooks

He won halfback of the year under our previous coach… but don’t let facts get in the way.

Couldn’t this all go in one of the 17 Luke Brooks threads available?

Halfback of the Year for a team who came 9th. In 2018, Cronk had his debut year at Chooks and won a GF, Adam Reynolds got South's to Top 4 and Cleary debuted in Origin, but yeah Brooks was the best 7 in the Comp ???

 

[GNR4LIFE]

Brooks hasnt been right for our past 3 coaches maybe the problem is brooks

He won halfback of the year under our previous coach… but don’t let facts get in the way.

Couldn’t this all go in one of the 17 Luke Brooks threads available?

Halfback of the Year for a team who came 9th. In 2018, Cronk had his debut year at Chooks and won a GF, Adam Reynolds got South's to Top 4 and Cleary debuted in Origin, but yeah Brooks was the best 7 in the Comp ???

He never said he was the best halfback that year, just that he was halfback of the year, which he was.

 

[Jedi_Tiger]

Brooks hasnt been right for our past 3 coaches maybe the problem is brooks

He did ok for Cleary - a coach who can coach
Taylor and Potter couldn't coach