Luke Brooks

[Magic Burton]

I actually think its the balance of if the team and team culture rather than the club.

They are like us. They have all their eggs put in 1 player. It use to be Brooks for them and Burton for us. Neither of these 2 guys are capable of being the main man. They are second fiddle players in their own right.

I think the difference for Tigers is they've fixed their #9.and they stumbled on a good #1, and now need to find or recruit a #6 and #7. Thats 2 out of 4 spine players.

We on the other hand have a #9 and are still shuffling deck chairs trying to find a 1, 6, 7.

Our plan seems to be he to ride out the next 2 or 3 seasons before our promising juniors fill these spots. Its like waiting for your kids to turn 17 so they can drive you back from the pub....

@Marki next year their halves will be Luai and Galvin. So you can probably say they’re settled on what their 1-6-7-9 will be. Benji will stick by Galvin. It’s just how much Sezer can hold up the role this year and if they can flick off Sullivan to a club dumber than them

We have completely changed our roster from 2021 we still don’t have a 1 and 7 we can argue better 1 options than the current one are playing centre for Storm and Dolphins, there’s still doubt on the best position for our 6 and we’ve spent more than double the money & partially pay another club to downgrade the 9.

Our last three halfbacks have been signed as unwanted by their previous clubs Flanagan, Sexton and Hutchinson. Aside from Averillo our last 3 fullbacks weren’t wanted by their previous clubs Dufty, Perham and Taafe. In fact Perham wasn’t even a fullback we manufactured him into one at the expense of Averillo who was the best of the 4 and showing promise in 2022 but they ripped up what Potter who was one of the all time best fullbacks we’ve ever produced had done.

We are rolling the dice on winning lower grade titles when the transition rate is low to begin with and is only higher than low if you have the right NRL coach in place. Bellamy and Cleary have showed you need to be the right NRL coach to translate the talent into NRL substance. Melbourne feeder teams don’t go close to winning Bellamy is the best at converting talent to NRL and Cleary is now taking it to a new level. Politis shows being the best administrator helps.

We’ve always had the juniors and pathways. We’ve lacked the right NRL coaching and NRL development. Our NRL recruitment and retention continues to be poor. We are still offloading contracted players which means we made poor decisions to begin with these are players very recently signed or re signed. This is where clubs like Penrith and Roosters benefit because they don’t release contracted players and pay any portions of their salaries. Penrith used too Cleary has since stopped it.

Brooks is playing a clear defined role at Manly he’s blessed to have Turbo outside, DCE inside and a club with strong on field leadership with DCE, Jake and Turbo. They asked Lamb what defined him as a player and he said being surrounded by good players. He said inside he had Steve Mortimer and outside he had Farrar and Potter. He said going away with the kangaroos and being with Lewis, Sterling and Miles made him a better player. Brooks and Manly suit each other perfectly Manly needed support inside and outside for DCE and Turbo. Brooks needed to have a role where he fitted in nicely. Lamb was humble he was a champion.

Manly may not be a top 3 contender but they’re a side that can make the finals uncomfortable for Penrith as they have a box office fullback and a halfback who’s a strong leader & kicker. Brisbane the same plus two forwards with huge motors.

 

[GA45]

@Marki next year their halves will be Luai and Galvin. So you can probably say they’re settled on what their 1-6-7-9 will be. Benji will stick by Galvin. It’s just how much Sezer can hold up the role this year and if they can flick off Sullivan to a club dumber than them

We have completely changed our roster from 2021 we still don’t have a 1 and 7 we can argue better 1 options than the current one are playing centre for Storm and Dolphins, there’s still doubt on the best position for our 6 and we’ve spent more than double the money & partially pay another club to downgrade the 9.

Our last three halfbacks have been signed as unwanted by their previous clubs Flanagan, Sexton and Hutchinson. Aside from Averillo our last 3 fullbacks weren’t wanted by their previous clubs Dufty, Perham and Taafe. In fact Perham wasn’t even a fullback we manufactured him into one at the expense of Averillo who was the best of the 4 and showing promise in 2022 but they ripped up what Potter who was one of the all time best fullbacks we’ve ever produced had done.

We are rolling the dice on winning lower grade titles when the transition rate is low to begin with and is only higher than low if you have the right NRL coach in place. Bellamy and Cleary have showed you need to be the right NRL coach to translate the talent into NRL substance. Melbourne feeder teams don’t go close to winning Bellamy is the best at converting talent to NRL and Cleary is now taking it to a new level. Politis shows being the best administrator helps.

We’ve always had the juniors and pathways. We’ve lacked the right NRL coaching and NRL development. Our NRL recruitment and retention continues to be poor. We are still offloading contracted players which means we made poor decisions to begin with these are players very recently signed or re signed. This is where clubs like Penrith and Roosters benefit because they don’t release contracted players and pay any portions of their salaries. Penrith used too Cleary has since stopped it.

Brooks is playing a clear defined role at Manly he’s blessed to have Turbo outside, DCE inside and a club with strong on field leadership with DCE, Jake and Turbo. They asked Lamb what defined him as a player and he said being surrounded by good players. He said inside he had Steve Mortimer and outside he had Farrar and Potter. He said going away with the kangaroos and being with Lewis, Sterling and Miles made him a better player. Brooks and Manly suit each other perfectly Manly needed support inside and outside for DCE and Turbo. Brooks needed to have a role where he fitted in nicely. Lamb was humble he was a champion.

Manly may not be a top 3 contender but they’re a side that can make the finals uncomfortable for Penrith as they have a box office fullback and a halfback who’s a strong leader & kicker. Brisbane the same plus two forwards with huge motors.

My God that wasn’t worth the read