Weekend Read: How the Knights got Jackson Hastings instead of Luke Brooks

It was more than a year ago when Newcastle thought they were going to pry Luke Brooks out of Concord. Brent Read details how they ended up with his then halves partner instead.

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Wests Tigers coach Tim Sheens had big plans for Jackson Hastings at the end of last season.

Sheens, in England at the World Cup as a coaching consultant with Italy, lauded Hastings’ versatility and the opportunity it gave him to play without a utility on the interchange bench during an interview with this columnist over coffee in Manchester in mid-October.

Sheens was wary of saying it publicly. Privately though, he said he could see the potential in having Hastings at his disposal to fill a variety of positions on the field.

Hastings could play in the halves. Some astute judges believed he could be a top-class hooker. Sheens saw him as a ball-playing lock. The point was he was flexible and Sheens insisted Hastings was a better player and leader than he himself believed.

His job, he said, was to get that out of him or Hastings wouldn’t be at the Tigers the year after. It never got that far.

(L-R) Jackson Hastings and Luke Brooks at Leichhardt Oval. Picture: Jonathan Ng

Weeks later, Hastings was gone, part of a swap deal involving David Klemmer that sent Hastings to the Knights and added another layer of tension to Sunday afternoon’s crucial game at Leichhardt Oval.

Sheens didn’t get the chance to test his theory on Hastings’ versatility and leadership. Ultimately, it was his decision to halt the experiment before it even began, the culmination of a series of events that began at the end of the 2021 season when Newcastle surprisingly decided to let Mitchell Pearce leave for French Super League side Catalans.

At the time, the Knights were planning for the arrival of Luke Brooks. Only it didn’t happen and their pursuit of Brooks carried over into the 2022 season. The Knights spurned other players as they put all their eggs in the Brooks basket.

Brooks had been labouring at the Tigers under Michael Maguire, struggling to become the player that everyone had envisioned and his camp had sought permission to explore their options with a view to joining the Knights.

Sheens did not want to let Luke Brooks leave the club. Picture: Toby Zerna

There was a view that Brooks needed to leave. News Corp understands that Brooks toured Newcastle’s facilities and met key figures at the club. Behind closed doors at the Tigers, there was an assumption that Brooks was on his way out.

There were, however, two significant stumbling blocks. The first was Sheens’ reluctance to let Brooks depart, which only became stronger after Maguire was shown the door in June and Sheens himself was earmarked to take over at the end of the 2022 season.

The second was the seven-figure salary that Brooks was due to receive in 2023. Sources close to the talks told News Corp that Brooks had been paid a small amount in advance in 2022, but he was still due more than $1.1 million this season.

The Knights’ cap was tight. Kalyn Ponga consumed a large chunk of it but Brooks would have meant taking on board a second million-dollar player. The Tigers were willing to let him go but were believed to be reluctant to contribute any money to make it happen.

When Knights head of football Peter Parr arrived in July, one of his first orders of business was to get his head around the salary cap. Parr took a look under the bonnet and harboured concerns.

He was stunned to see Ponga’s contract was scheduled to skyrocket – reports have suggested he will be on more than $1.5 million in 2025 – and quickly realised that they couldn’t afford Brooks at full freight as well throwing in an extension on a significant salary.

Financial concerns aside, there were also footballing issues. When the decision was made to move Ponga to five-eighth – a move pushed by the player himself – it amplified the concerns around Brooks.

Jackson Hastings was a better value proposition for the Knights.

Brooks and Ponga were both predominantly left foot players. Both were runners rather than organisers. Hastings seemed a more natural fit and he was ripe for the picking.

Hastings had been closely aligned with Maguire. The pair were cut from the same cloth – they were both fierce competitors driven by a thirst for winning.

His relationship with Sheens was less strong. News Corp was told things changed for the worse when Hastings paid his own way to the Gold Coast to watch the Tigers play while injured.

The club didn’t want him to go. Maguire did. So Hastings footed the bill himself. Then Maguire departed and Hastings made his feelings known to senior powerbrokers at the Tigers. He was disappointed and made no attempt to hide it.

There were reports that some at the club were also concerned that he was posting updates on his rehabilitation from an ankle problem on social media. It only enhanced the view with some at the club that Hastings was difficult.

”Is he different, of course he is,” one source close to Hastings told News Corp.

“You just have to learn to manage the differences. As a competitor you couldn’t ask for any more.”

Another source added: “Jacko just likes winning. He hates losing. He is a very simple man. You treat him well, he will treat you well.

“You treat him like shit and he will respond poorly.”

Within the Hastings camp, there was a belief that he was being set up to fail. Hastings and Sheens were starting to rub each other the wrong way and as Newcastle’s interest in Brooks began to fizzle, Hastings loomed as a serious alternative.

Their interest escalated in early November when Hastings travelled to Newcastle with his manager Liam Ayoub for a meeting with Parr at a steak restaurant.

The Knights sent David Klemmer to the Tigers in return for Hastings.

Things went so well, the trio caught up with Knights coach Adam O’Brien for breakfast the next day – O’Brien had been doing his own research into Hastings in the background.

Hastings and Ayoub were within their rights to meet the Knights. Hastings had entered the final year of his deal on November 1 and was free to talk to other clubs.

The Tigers are believed to have become aware of the meeting when it was reported by Phil Rothfield in The Daily Telegraph.

Their reaction was swift. News Corp was told that the Tigers called the Knights soon after and said if you want Hastings, you can have him.

There was only one caveat – they wanted David Klemmer in return. Parr sealed the Hastings deal with a call to Ayoub. After wasting a year chasing Brooks, the Knights finally had a No.7.

Hastings, it is understood, never heard from the Tigers. Still hasn’t. That’s about to change on Sunday.