AmericanHistoryX
Well-known member
Brent Read
From: The Australian
August 24, 2013 12:00AM
\
\
HOLY Cross College Ryde coach Tim White first laid eyes on Luke Brooks nearly a decade ago. He was sold from the very start.
"When I watched him in junior league at 10 or 11, I said this kid is going to make it," White said of Brooks, the Wests Tigers' half who will make his long-awaited first grade debut against St George Illawarra at the SCG today.
"You could just tell. At that age kids struggle to throw a tennis ball, but he was shifting footies left to right, he was kicking, he was passing, he was running, he was palming.
"He had all the core attributes you needed at a young age. I remember we had him at a development camp when he was still in primary school. He would have been 11 or 12\. There was a number of blokes there, even a couple of first-grade players and coaches, and we all said this kid is the pick of the bunch.
"The Tigers were pretty blessed to have him grow up in the area, let alone come through the grades."
Brooks is yet to turn 19 but is already being hailed as the saviour of a football club that is going to through upheaval on and off the field.
The Tigers are a basket case. Their financial woes have been well-documented and threaten to tear apart the joint venture. More meetings are scheduled with the NRL in coming weeks to solve that problem.
As for their on-field woes, in Brooks they trust. The Tigers are ready to put their future in his sure hands. Their commitment to the teenager was reinforced by their decision to let Benji Marshall leave at the end of the season.
Tigers supporters are salivating. They have been crying out for Brooks to be let off the leash all season. It is the most anticipated debut since Marshall made his 10 years ago.
Significantly, the New Zealand international will move to the centres today to accommodate a player who has been described as an amalgam of Andrew Johns and Brad Fittler.
Big raps, but those who know him best suggest it is warranted.
"As a person he is very, very composed," said Andrew Webster, Brooks's SG Ball coach last year.
"He doesn't get flustered with anything. For a halfback he is definitely not scared. He doesn't play in a dinner suit. He's not worried about the contact.
"He probably enjoys it, if anything. The kid also knows how to shake off some adversity too."
That trait can be traced back to a period when Brooks suffered two broken legs in quick succession. Over 18 months, he played only a handful of games.
"The first time he broke his leg when he was 15 or 16, a lot of people wrote him off and forgot about him," White said.
"In my opinion, even the club kind of forgot about him and didn't do enough with him. I reckon that really drove him.
"The next year when he broke it again, it gave him that extra meaning to come through. He had to endure a lot mentally and physically.
"I reckon he had a few doubts. In the end, I remember when he came back the second time it took him one game and you just looked at him and went wow."
Not surprisingly, the Tigers enjoyed success in the lower grades when Brooks had his hand on the tiller. They won SG Ball and Toyota Cup premierships last year alone.
Now the Tigers are banking on that success translating to the NRL, starting today. In coming years, possibly next season, the Tigers will blood Mitchell Moses as well.
Curtis Sironen is already in first-grade. Good things are on the horizon.
"Those three kids are outstanding," White said. "They have been blessed because they have come up through the grades together. Moses and Brooks together are like watching Daley and Stuart, or Joey and Matty.
"It's uncanny the sixth sense they have got. I knew blokes who had been watching Australian Schoolboys and been there for 40 years and they said they had never seen anything like it.
"They just turn up at the right place at the right time. It was if they had been planning it all week, but Mitchell and Luke can sniff it.
"It's body language. They just know how to read each other. When they get to the top grade, and injury prevailing, they could really kick on and take the club forward."
From: The Australian
August 24, 2013 12:00AM
\
\
HOLY Cross College Ryde coach Tim White first laid eyes on Luke Brooks nearly a decade ago. He was sold from the very start.
"When I watched him in junior league at 10 or 11, I said this kid is going to make it," White said of Brooks, the Wests Tigers' half who will make his long-awaited first grade debut against St George Illawarra at the SCG today.
"You could just tell. At that age kids struggle to throw a tennis ball, but he was shifting footies left to right, he was kicking, he was passing, he was running, he was palming.
"He had all the core attributes you needed at a young age. I remember we had him at a development camp when he was still in primary school. He would have been 11 or 12\. There was a number of blokes there, even a couple of first-grade players and coaches, and we all said this kid is the pick of the bunch.
"The Tigers were pretty blessed to have him grow up in the area, let alone come through the grades."
Brooks is yet to turn 19 but is already being hailed as the saviour of a football club that is going to through upheaval on and off the field.
The Tigers are a basket case. Their financial woes have been well-documented and threaten to tear apart the joint venture. More meetings are scheduled with the NRL in coming weeks to solve that problem.
As for their on-field woes, in Brooks they trust. The Tigers are ready to put their future in his sure hands. Their commitment to the teenager was reinforced by their decision to let Benji Marshall leave at the end of the season.
Tigers supporters are salivating. They have been crying out for Brooks to be let off the leash all season. It is the most anticipated debut since Marshall made his 10 years ago.
Significantly, the New Zealand international will move to the centres today to accommodate a player who has been described as an amalgam of Andrew Johns and Brad Fittler.
Big raps, but those who know him best suggest it is warranted.
"As a person he is very, very composed," said Andrew Webster, Brooks's SG Ball coach last year.
"He doesn't get flustered with anything. For a halfback he is definitely not scared. He doesn't play in a dinner suit. He's not worried about the contact.
"He probably enjoys it, if anything. The kid also knows how to shake off some adversity too."
That trait can be traced back to a period when Brooks suffered two broken legs in quick succession. Over 18 months, he played only a handful of games.
"The first time he broke his leg when he was 15 or 16, a lot of people wrote him off and forgot about him," White said.
"In my opinion, even the club kind of forgot about him and didn't do enough with him. I reckon that really drove him.
"The next year when he broke it again, it gave him that extra meaning to come through. He had to endure a lot mentally and physically.
"I reckon he had a few doubts. In the end, I remember when he came back the second time it took him one game and you just looked at him and went wow."
Not surprisingly, the Tigers enjoyed success in the lower grades when Brooks had his hand on the tiller. They won SG Ball and Toyota Cup premierships last year alone.
Now the Tigers are banking on that success translating to the NRL, starting today. In coming years, possibly next season, the Tigers will blood Mitchell Moses as well.
Curtis Sironen is already in first-grade. Good things are on the horizon.
"Those three kids are outstanding," White said. "They have been blessed because they have come up through the grades together. Moses and Brooks together are like watching Daley and Stuart, or Joey and Matty.
"It's uncanny the sixth sense they have got. I knew blokes who had been watching Australian Schoolboys and been there for 40 years and they said they had never seen anything like it.
"They just turn up at the right place at the right time. It was if they had been planning it all week, but Mitchell and Luke can sniff it.
"It's body language. They just know how to read each other. When they get to the top grade, and injury prevailing, they could really kick on and take the club forward."
