‘We have to live with it’: Sheens frustrated about Brooks’ Manly exit
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Tim Sheens insists there are no dramas between him and new Wests Tigers recruitment boss Scott Fulton, but is clearly frustrated the club had botched the chance to make Luke Brooks a one-club player.
“You’d like to hope the coach gets what he wants,” Sheens, a four-time premiership winner, said on Thursday.
Manly announced this week they had signed Brooks to a four-year deal, which came on the same day this masthead reported Sheens’ eventual successor Benji Marshall had clashed with Fulton over the roster.
Fulton, whose initial appointment caught Sheens and Marshall off guard, was understood to have had little interest in keeping Brooks. Marshall, meanwhile, wanted nothing to do with Fulton’s own target, Sea Eagles’ playmaker Josh Schuster.
Marshall has since been forced to shoot down rumours he was about to walk from the club altogether because of the split vision over how the roster should look when he eventually takes charge in 2025.
Sheens on Thursday hosed down talk of any rift with Fulton, and was bemused some sections of the media who had labelled Brooks “hopeless” this season were now prepared to describe him as a great buy for Manly.
Tim Sheens was disappointed the club had botched the chance to make Luke Brooks a one-club playerCREDIT:GETTY
“Brooksy has made his decision, people know where I stood with that,” said Sheens, when asked about his thoughts on the move.
Pressed on the coaches and Fulton not seeing eye-to-eye over Brooks, Sheens said: “That’s wrong. You’re talking about Scott and recruitment department having an issue with Brooksy, [about there being] a divide among the recruitment department. That’s wrong.
“There was no divide about wanting Brooksy to stay. The issue is he decided to go, I think there’s more money involved and other things, so we have to live with that.
“I deal with Scott every day. The coaches make recommendations, the amount of money the club has with the cap weighs in on that sort of stuff.
Brookie bound: Luke BrooksCREDIT:GETTY IMAGES
“But you’d like to hope the coach gets what he wants. Brooksy will leave the club, I’m not blaming anyone particularly – I’m not blaming Brooksy nor his agent or anyone else. He’s made his decision and we have to live with it.”
Just who plays No. 7 at the Tigers has become the biggest question, especially with Adam Doueihi no certainty to return from a knee injury at all next year, and with this weekend’s new-look halves combination — Brandon Wakeham and Daine Laurie — both off contract.
Marshall met with Manly teen Latu Fainu on Wednesday night.
“Something falls out of the tree all the time,” Sheens said. “We’re not overly concerned about that at the minute, we’re about the next 10 rounds and getting away from the bottom of the table.”
Laurie will get his shot in the No. 6 jersey against North Queensland on Saturday. Sheens had hoped to see him play there before the bye, only for Laurie to be still overcoming a concussion.
“Looking at his training the other day, he’ll go OK, he’s played there before so he’s not new to it,” Sheens said.
“Your fullback is a third pivot in the game if he’s got a pass, which he has. He’s a very good defender and aggressive in that area. I expect him to go well.
“We’ll give him every opportunity the next few games to cement a spot there.
“Both boys [Wakeham and Laurie] are [in our plans], but time will tell what we do and how much money we spend. I’ve told the boys to play footy ... play good footy and things will work out.”
By Christian Nicolussi
June 29, 2023 — 1.59pmSave
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Tim Sheens insists there are no dramas between him and new Wests Tigers recruitment boss Scott Fulton, but is clearly frustrated the club had botched the chance to make Luke Brooks a one-club player.
“You’d like to hope the coach gets what he wants,” Sheens, a four-time premiership winner, said on Thursday.
Manly announced this week they had signed Brooks to a four-year deal, which came on the same day this masthead reported Sheens’ eventual successor Benji Marshall had clashed with Fulton over the roster.
Fulton, whose initial appointment caught Sheens and Marshall off guard, was understood to have had little interest in keeping Brooks. Marshall, meanwhile, wanted nothing to do with Fulton’s own target, Sea Eagles’ playmaker Josh Schuster.
Marshall has since been forced to shoot down rumours he was about to walk from the club altogether because of the split vision over how the roster should look when he eventually takes charge in 2025.
Sheens on Thursday hosed down talk of any rift with Fulton, and was bemused some sections of the media who had labelled Brooks “hopeless” this season were now prepared to describe him as a great buy for Manly.
Tim Sheens was disappointed the club had botched the chance to make Luke Brooks a one-club playerCREDIT:GETTY
“Brooksy has made his decision, people know where I stood with that,” said Sheens, when asked about his thoughts on the move.
Pressed on the coaches and Fulton not seeing eye-to-eye over Brooks, Sheens said: “That’s wrong. You’re talking about Scott and recruitment department having an issue with Brooksy, [about there being] a divide among the recruitment department. That’s wrong.
“There was no divide about wanting Brooksy to stay. The issue is he decided to go, I think there’s more money involved and other things, so we have to live with that.
“I deal with Scott every day. The coaches make recommendations, the amount of money the club has with the cap weighs in on that sort of stuff.
Brookie bound: Luke BrooksCREDIT:GETTY IMAGES
“But you’d like to hope the coach gets what he wants. Brooksy will leave the club, I’m not blaming anyone particularly – I’m not blaming Brooksy nor his agent or anyone else. He’s made his decision and we have to live with it.”
Just who plays No. 7 at the Tigers has become the biggest question, especially with Adam Doueihi no certainty to return from a knee injury at all next year, and with this weekend’s new-look halves combination — Brandon Wakeham and Daine Laurie — both off contract.
Marshall met with Manly teen Latu Fainu on Wednesday night.
“Something falls out of the tree all the time,” Sheens said. “We’re not overly concerned about that at the minute, we’re about the next 10 rounds and getting away from the bottom of the table.”
Laurie will get his shot in the No. 6 jersey against North Queensland on Saturday. Sheens had hoped to see him play there before the bye, only for Laurie to be still overcoming a concussion.
“Looking at his training the other day, he’ll go OK, he’s played there before so he’s not new to it,” Sheens said.
“Your fullback is a third pivot in the game if he’s got a pass, which he has. He’s a very good defender and aggressive in that area. I expect him to go well.
“We’ll give him every opportunity the next few games to cement a spot there.
“Both boys [Wakeham and Laurie] are [in our plans], but time will tell what we do and how much money we spend. I’ve told the boys to play footy ... play good footy and things will work out.”
