Luke Brooks has gone 167 games, and counting, without playing in the finals
While the blame can be shared around, it is Luke Brooks’ name that now joins the likes of Shane Walker and Michael Bolt.
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Under-fire Wests Tigers halfback Luke Brooks will etch his name in one of rugby league’s most unwanted top 10 lists this weekend.
The struggling No. 7 is set to join former Illawarra Steeler Michael Bolt as equal 10th on the list of players with the most number of matches (168) without playing finals football.
The list, compiled by Fox Sports Lab, takes into account literally 4000-plus names who have competed in the elite competition dating back to the start of the State of Origin era in 1980.
Brooks, 26, is the only halfback on the top 10 list.
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Former Souths No. 7 Darrell “Tricky” Trindall (165) and Wests Magpies’ Trevor Cogger (164) previously held the record for halves with the longest finals drought.
In the NRL era dating back to 1998 former Souths and Parramatta halfback Chris Sandow was the next of the halfback with 159 games without a finals appearance.
It’s yet another sad reflection on the direction Brooks’ once promising career has travelled as he heads towards the back end of his eighth NRL season.
And given the Tigers are already four points outside the top eight after 20 rounds, they desperately need to beat the Bulldogs on Sunday to keep their season alive.
But a loss against the team running last would only add to what is already an almost unbearable pressure on everyone at the club.
Even though Brooks still has two seasons to run on his existing $850,000-a-season contract, many believe the best thing for him and the club would be for them to move in different directions next season.
The Tigers do have a more than handy replacement coming to the club next season in Jackson Hastings who could easily partner Adam Doueihi in the halves.
When Brooks first exploded into the NRL in 2013 he was talked up to be the game’s next big thing.
But the constant swapping of coaches certainly hasn’t assisted his development with Brooks playing under five different coaches including Michael Potter, Jason Taylor, Andrew Webster, Ivan Cleary and now Michael Maguire.
Overall, former Tigers forward Mark O’Neill (219) played the most games during this period before he finally made it to the finals in 2005.
Fellow Tiger Tim Brasher clocked up 200 games during his finals drought (Brasher also managed four finals games in total).
Cameron Blair (184) and former Tigers prop Shane Walker (178) are the only others on the list along with Bolt never to play finals footy.
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Originally published as Luke Brooks has gone 167 games, and counting, without playing in the finals
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