Wests Tigers’ Luke Brooks gesture is the saddest thing ever

The Wests Tigers have a long and embarrassing history of stuff-ups - but their latest gesture for a star who quit the club takes the cake.

COMMENT

The unwavering misery of the Wests Tigers is so resilient they can finish last and still find a way to plummet down the table the following year.

But while this amazing achievement in 2023 of somehow downgrading a wooden spoon was something to behold - even by Tigers standards - their latest effort is a new bracket of morale sabotage.

The joint venture finds itself back on the rugby league rotisserie after issuing a heartfelt-yet-woefully beta congratulations on Wednesday to Luke Brooks on his maiden finals appearance.

Reaffirming their ability to annex every available inch of viral acreage even when the season is over, the earnest tribute to their former favourite son was a disturbing own-goal for the club’s frail self-confidence that has been fast-tracked in to the club’s jam-packed hall of folly.

“Wests Tigers wish to congratulate former halfback Luke Brooks on his achievements over the weekend for Manly Warringah Sea Eagles,” the statement read.

“Brooks, 29, made the move to the Sea Eagles at the end of the 2023 season, after playing 205 games across 11 seasons at Wests Tigers.

Luke Brooks has finally tasted finals success. Picture: NRL Photos

“Although he did not play finals footy in his time at the Tigers, Brooks certainly enjoyed his first taste of finals footy on Sunday, helping the Sea Eagles to a 24-22 victory over the Bulldogs.”

The statement also included a quote from CEO Shane Richardson, who congratulated the half.

“On behalf of everyone here at Wests Tigers, I want to congratulate Luke on achieving something that he has wanted for a long time,” said Richardson.

“Luke spent more than a decade as a Wests Tigers player, so he will always be a part of this family.

“He showed loyalty when many didn’t.”

Some said it was an adorable gesture from the club, but overall it was a move that throbbed with an underlying hurt - and it was the saddest thing ever.

As we know, it’s an iron-clad fact the Wests Tigers are the NRL’s premier basketcase and the weirdest bunch of cats this side of the storm drain on the M2 motorway.

This is thanks to its colossal catalogue of dead serious rugby league issues, many which are no laughing matter to anyone except those outside the club and its supporter base.

Luke Brooks has been a different player at Manly. (Photo by Mark Nolan/Getty Images)

Whether wading in debt, warring at board level or even just the ever-changing hairstyle of Justin Pascoe, the club has never been further than an arm’s length from a bad decision.

Add seven coaches and two finals series since their last premiership in 2005, and it’s no wonder fans want the club’s membership package to come with 12 home games and a general anaesthetic.

But it’s sad stuff like the Brooks message that puts daylight between the Tigers and its closest competitors in the bin fire stakes.

Yep, much like publicly sending best wishes to a former player who’s doing his darnedest to forget you, it’s the tales of torment where the club excels as the game’s #1 unfenced zoo.

Since winning the competition in 2005, the club has lurched from one stuff-up to the next, all while the internet provides a running commentary in tandem with Benny Elias.

Who could forget the club farewelling Brooks with a new barbecue?

Luke Brooks is given a farewell BBQ by the Tigers. Pic: NRL Photos

Not only was this one of the most curious golden handshakes in corporate Australia, it’s now also the most iconic grill-related incident in rugby league since James Maloney described being caught in a compromised act as ‘barbecuing alone’.

Or what about Martin Taupau’s release to Manly being leaked on Twitter by a Canadian arts writer who the Tigers emailed the details by mistake?

There was also the six month ban slapped on Pascoe for salary cap breaches in 2018 after offering Robbie Farah an ambassadorial payment to quietly go away after months of ructions.

It wasn’t such a major shock- until the club reinstated Pascoe at the end of his ban.

And who could forget the club’s magnum opus- denigrating the Diggers?

When the administration paid tribute to our veterans on Anzac Day with a commemorative jersey featuring stock pictures of American soldiers, it cost the club thousands in destroyed merchandise and reputational capital.

But when it was John Bateman and David Klemmer sent to face the music, the cowardly administration should’ve been punished with two years of mandatory service.

Even the latest CEO hasn’t missed the fun, with Shane Richardson barely having his feet under the desk before discovering the club had been declaring non-paying juniors in its membership numbers, with the approx. 20,000 posted actually 7,239.

David Klemmer and John Bateman both struggled at the Tigers in 2024.

And it’s not just the front office that’s an ass- the club also boasts plenty of footy-related air-balls to fuel its existential melancholy.

Constantly finishing ninth, earning three straight wooden spoons and yearning to constantly finish ninth, and the gut-churning nightmare of being knocked out of finals contention in 2019 at Leichhardt Oval by a Paul Gallen field goal.

Don’t forget too the bizarre decision to appoint five co-captains in 2018, the 60-26 annihilation in this year’s Spoon Bowl and 2021’s airless folding to home to the Cowboys in the Tommy Raudonikis farewell game.

Plus there’s failed signings like Adam Blair, Josh Reynolds, Matt Ballin, Braith Anasta and the rest, plus the reams of talent left behind such as James Tedesco, Mitch Moses and Ryan Papenhuyzen.

And don’t forget losing Marika Koroibete too, nor the extra kick in the guts of seeing him excel under a program like the Wallabies.

Instead of sending Brooks a heartfelt message of support, maybe it should be the other way around.

- Dane Eldridge is a warped cynic yearning for the glory days of rugby league, a time when the sponges were magic and the Mondays were mad. He’s never strapped on a boot in his life, and as such, should be taken with a grain of salt.

Originally published as Wests Tigers’ Luke Brooks gesture is the saddest thing ever