Million Dollar Man: How much blame does Luke Brooks deserve for the Wests Tigers' finals drought?

Luke Brooks is going to play for the Wests Tigers in 2022, right?

Like, he’s got a contract – for two more years in fact. And new club supremo (why does only Phil Gould ever get that made-up title?) Tim Sheens has made it clear the No.7 isn’t going anywhere.

Yet here in the Hunter, there continue to be rumblings that the Knights are going to sign a halfback for the ’22 season and that someway, somehow, Luke Brooks is going to be that signing.

There’s a David Klemmer vibe about the whole scenario, whereby despite the fact big Klem had a number of years to run on his deal at the Dogs, it was known that the Knights wanted him and – the part of it all that’s less well known – club CEO Phil Gardner has a tendency to get what he wants.

I’m not saying it’s a fait accompli (especially with the ongoing talk of Anthony Milford having a 12-month cameo in red and blue lined up), just that it’s not as dead a deal as Sheens would have us believe.

Million Dollar Man series
A look at each club’s million-dollar man – the player broadly acknowledged to be taking up the largest individual chunk of the salary cap (even if they aren’t actually quite grossing seven figures).
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As for why the Tigers would entertain releasing a local junior who burst onto the scene in 2013, earning comparisons to Andrew Johns, being named the 2014 Dally M Rookie of the Year, and going on to win the 2018 Dally M Halfback of the Year award, well, that’d be because it’s pretty much all Brooks has won.

In his nine seasons in the NRL, he has played precisely zero finals games. While the Tigers have been a basket-case on and off the field for most of that time, at a certain point people begin to ask whether the problem might lie – at least in part – in their choice of halfback.

In late 2021, Brooks overtook Chris Sandow as the halfback to have played the most games without any being finals.

Thing is, it’s not like Brooks has been terrible throughout this time and you wonder whether Daly Cherry-Evans or Nathan Cleary would have been able to manage an eighth-place finish had they been wearing the No.7 jersey in that same team.

But between the position he plays and the money he’s paid – as well as the hype that surrounded him from such an early age – Brooks is the most consistent scapegoat for the Tigers’ troubles.

(Photo by Ashley Feder/Getty Images)

Could be that he just needs a new club, one with a dominant forward pack, to finally live up to those high expectations that were heaped on his shoulders as a youngster. I mean, look at how his fellow former Tigers in James Tedesco and Mitchell Moses have flourished after leaving Concord (or Leichhardt or Campbelltown or wherever they’re saying is home these days).

But, as mentioned above, Sheens appears adamant that the 27-year-old will be staying put.

“Yes I guarantee it (he’s staying). He’s got two years on his contract,” Sheens told the Daily Telegraph in December.

“He’s getting on really well with Jackson (Hastings) who will probably start at six. He’s got a smile on his face.”

While the Tigers signing fellow half Hastings was held up by some as further evidence that Brooks was on the outer, the former Rooster and Sea Eagle could well provide the support Brooks needs this year.

Then you look at the players who will be wearing black, white and orange in 2023, including incumbent Origin rake Api Koroisau and reigning Dally M Second Rower of the year Isaiah Papali’i, as well as the addition of Tyrone Peachey and Oliver Gildart for ’22, and add a further 12 months’ development of exciting youngsters like Daine Laurie and Stefano Utoikamanu, and you’re starting to see the makings of a quality side – or, at the very least, one that a decent halfback will have no excuses for letting miss the eight.

(Photo by Speed Media/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

But what about 2022? Well, does anyone bar the most dedicated fan honestly think the Tigers will be playing September footy? The fact they’ll be missing Adam Doueihi for a large chunk of the year certainly doesn’t make things any easier.

Furthermore, last year’s top six should probably hold their places in the finals this year and while the Knights and Titans might be lucky to make the play-offs, the Sharks, Raiders, Dragons, Broncos and even Bulldogs arguably have more improvement in them than the Tigers based purely on off-season signings.

All of which is to say that there’s a strong chance that Brooks’ number of games without a finals match among them is a decent chance of being in the 200s before he finally breaks his duck.

As to whether he’ll be wearing the colours of his boyhood club when he finally does, as I said earlier, Brooks to the Knights isn’t as dead as Tim Sheens makes it out to be.

If we see a strong return from injury by Adam Doueihi and Jackson Hastings play like a Man of Steel-winning half, a move north before the mid-season cut-off date for club movement could still happen for Luke Brooks.

Best-case scenario
Luke Brooks finishing his career as a one-club player would be fitting, so let’s start by clarifying that the best-case scenario for him does not include a move to Newcastle.

As for what his best possible 2022 is at his current club, well you just never know which Tigers are going to come out of the dressing sheds ¬– the team that put the Knights to the sword twice in 2021 or the side that gets embarrassed by the wooden-spoon winning Bulldogs in their last match of the year.

More of the former and with a bit of luck – let’s be honest, a lot of luck – Luke Brooks could finally get the monkey off his back, helping his teammates squeeze into the eight.

Worst-case scenario
Facing five of last year’s finalists in their opening seven games – and no team that finished below them on the 2021 ladder until their Round 10 match against the Cowboys – and it’s not totally crazy that the Tigers could be without a win by May.

If that’s to be the case, Michael Maguire would surely be out of a job.

And while rumours the famously intense coach and his halfback don’t necessarily get along might suggest a new gaffer would be a net victory for Brooks, 2023 is the final year of his current deal and how keen do you think any club is going to be on signing – or re-signing – a halfback who’s approaching 30, has played zero finals games, and has seen off five full-time coaches during his career?

Brooks’ narrative is inextricably linked with the Wests Tigers. A bad year for them is a bad year for him.

And it’s not beyond the pale that a bad year ends with Brooks leading the joint venture to its first-ever wooden spoon.