NRL 2020: Luke Brooks has never played finals football
Wests Tigers halfback Luke Brooks has more incentive than most to steer the club into the top eight, with the joint-venture desperate to end the longest finals drought in the NRL.
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Luke Brooks needs no reminder of the Wests Tigers’ finals drought — he is the reminder.
The talented 25-year-old has never played finals football, and is the NRL’s longest-serving player not to do so.
Since debuting with the Tigers in 2013, Brooks is in his eighth NRL season and has 141 appearances.
And unless the Tigers can quickly turn around their inconsistent form, 2020 will be another write-off for the club and it will have Brooks almost certain to claim the unenviable all-time record for most games without a final.
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Currently, that ‘honour’ is held by former Parramatta halfback Chris Sandow, who didn’t play finals in his 159-match NRL career.
Last week’s shock defeat to the Warriors has the Tigers at risk of losing touch with the top eight and missing the playoffs for ninth season in a row.
Worse still for Brooks, he was forced to watch on from the bench after he was dropped to the interchange for the first time in his career. But the star halfback is pushing to start this weekend against Newcastle in a match that will have a huge bearing on whether the Tigers can realistically challenge for the top eight.
“I’m not the first person to get dropped and I won’t be the last. I’m staying positive, that’s the only way to be,” Brooks said.
“You look at when Benji (Marshall) got dropped and he got back in the side, you can take a bit from that and how he handled himself.
“It’s always about more consistency for me, and building that game plan, building pressure, that’ll get me back in.
“I wasn’t happy with how I was playing (before I was benched), so it’s a good chance to look at my game and see what I can improve to get into the starting side.
“There have been changes before so everyone is prepared for that. It’s up to Madge.”
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A Brooks-Marshall combination might be the club’s best chance of turning things around — Marshall was Brooks’ halves partner through much of 2018, when the No. 7 enjoyed the best season of his career and won the Dally M halfback of the year award.
The finals are still eight weeks away, but Saturday’s showdown with Newcastle shapes as one of the Tigers most important matches of the season.
With the club currently in 10th position, defeat could have them finish the round four points adrift of the top eight with matches against heavy hitters the Sydney Roosters, Melbourne, Penrith and Parramatta coming up.
Maguire was furious after the loss to New Zealand and it was easy to see why it left him kicking a plastic chair across the dressing room. The Tigers led 8-0 in even time after two early tries, but were out-enthused by a Warriors team that played with a far greater hunger and intensity.
Brooks came on for the final 20 minutes and the Tigers’ attack did look crisper when he was involved, but it wasn’t enough to turn the result.
“It can be difficult for a half, coming on with 20 to go. But I thought we still had a chance to win,” Brooks said.
“We lost that game through our defence, we got rolled, they were making too many metres each set and we paid the price.
“I think that’s been our strong point over the last few weeks, our defence. But our kick chase and line speed, I don’t think it was there.”
SAD TIGER TALE
Wests Tigers’ season finishes in Luke Brooks era
2013 15th
2014 13th
2015 15th
2016 9th
2017 14th
2018 9th
2019 9th
2020 10th*
*After 12 rounds
Originally published as NRL 2020: Luke Brooks has never played finals football