'They can take their Twitter and shove it': Sheens slams Brooks critics - and the Bunker - after record win over sorry Cowboys

Leichhardt Oval has been there for 1934 and it’s never seen a night like this. 11 tries, 66 points and the biggest win the history of the Wests Tigers.

At the end, the hill were chanting Luke Brooks’ name in his 200th appearance for the club and climbing inside the famous old scoreboard to drink in the moment.

Tigers boss Tim Sheens went into bat for the much-maligned Brooks.

“People on Twitter giving him grief, as far as I’m concerned, can take their Twitter and shove it,” he said. “He’s been playing well for the last month. He wasn’t scoring seven tries a game, not many people can do that, but people seem to think that’s what it’s got to be.”

Ten tries weren’t enough, however, and Sheens let lose on Bunker official Kasey Badget – particularly a grounding call for a Joe Ofahengaue try and one of the Cowboys’ scores, in which the forward was a long way offside.

“I will be at the referee’s Bunker next week big time, big time,” said the coach.

“Ofahengaue scored. I don’t care what she said in the Bunker. Ofahengaue put both forearms on the ground. That’s a try. I’m not happy, so I’m going to go and say a few things.”

It was bizarro world, especially considering where the Tigers were just a month ago, marooned at the foot of the NRL on zero wins. They’re off the bottom now – at least until the Bulldogs play tomorrow – and deservedly so.

The Cowboys, however, look like they might take their place. The Queenslanders were as bad as any team has been in 2023 so far and will still lose players to Origin, if the Maroons will still have them.

Honourable mentions go to Scott Drinkwater and Reuben Cotter, who had a crack when they got the footy, but everyone else should hang their heads. Todd Payten must be scratching his.

This is was an abomination from a side that, as recently as last year, was considered one of the best defensive units in the NRL. They have now conceded 108 points in two trips to Sydney – good luck, then, that they get a third next Friday in Parramatta.

“(It was) Probably the worst performance we’ve had as a team since I have been at the club,” said Payten.

“Everything to play for and we were beaten at all parts of the game and in all parts of the field. It’s going to dent our confidence, but it is not a line through our season.

“What we have do to is we have to turn around again, we have to turn around fast.”

Who are this team and what have they done with the Wests Tigers?

This was like no Wests Tigers performance in years. It had the confluence of all the good things: Leichhardt at night, a raucous crowd and a milestone for their most important, yet most consistently underperforming player. 

Brooks was simply superb. This was the showing that reminds you of why he was so highly rated and, indeed, so frustrating – you don’t get to be such a disappointment if people hadn’t got excited about you in the first place.

From the first moment, he was all over the Cowboys, darting at the line, kicking smartly and even producing offloads. 

Mitchell Moses was in the crowd to celebrate his 200th game, and it was as if the stadium had been temporarily transported back to 2018, when the Tigers were last semi-good and the Cowboys were useless.

He didn’t do it alone, however. Api Koroisau finally found blokes to go with him, putting forwards onto crash lines and constantly challenging the markers. 

Jahream Bula got his first try in the NRL and continued his excellent start to life among the big boys. If this isn’t Brandon Wakeham’s best game in first grade, it’s close to it. 

Even Starford To’a, who has rarely looked anything other than replacement level across his previous 49 NRL games, was exceptional and gave Val Holmes the toughest night he’s had in a long time.

It’s not like this had been coming, but it hadn’t not been coming either: since Easter Monday, the Tigers have been getting better and better, even when the results didn’t come. 

They should have beaten Parramatta that day, and Manly after that, before actually beating Penrith and the Dragons in consecutive weeks. Even last time out against Souths, they came with a plan and weren’t embarrassed.

But nobody would have predicted a 60-point scoreline. For a fanbase that has suffered so much, this was superb.

Can the Cowboys recover from this?

This was the nadir of an already bad Cowboys season. They were never at the races, bullied from the first minute and toyed with by the end. 

Whatever remains of their defensive resolution from 2022 is long departed, smashed to pieces by a team that, until today, couldn’t scrape two points together.

This team was also thrashed by Cronulla a few weeks ago, and made to look very silly in the process, but that was against one of the best attacking sides in the comp. This was the Wests Tigers.

Val Holmes must hope that Billy Slater missed this one given the Origin team is being picked tomorrow. Dane Gagai was shocking in the earlier game and Holmes was worse, made to look puny by To’a.

Payten gave them the hairdryer at half time and they turned out and played even worse. There’s no escaping this. Soul-searching doesn’t cover what North Queensland need to do in the next week before facing Parramatta on Friday night. If they play like this again, they’ll concede a hundred.