Wests Tigers chief executive Shane Richardson has directed a jab at the club’s former players in a rare statement congratulating Luke Brooks.
Brooks departed the Tigers at the end of last season after 205 games without an NRL finals appearance.
The 29-year-old made the most of his knockout debut with Manly last weekend, having a hand in three of the Sea Eagles’ four tries in the 24-22 win over Canterbury.
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The Tigers celebrated their former halfback’s milestone with a statement on their website published this week.
“Wests Tigers wish to congratulate former halfback Luke Brooks on his achievements over the weekend for Manly Warringah Sea Eagles,” it began.
The release raised eyebrows among fans, not least because of Richardson’s final line.
“On behalf of everyone here at Wests Tigers, I want to congratulate Luke on achieving something that he has wanted for a long time,” the CEO said.
“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.”
Brooks famously stuck with the Tigers when he was off-contract alongside fellow leading lights Mitchell Moses, James Tedesco and Aaron Woods at the end of the 2017 season.
Moses departed for Parramatta and Tedesco joined the Roosters — both remaining at those clubs to this day — while Woods signed a four-year deal with the Bulldogs but made a sudden mid-season switch to Cronulla in 2018.
Moses’s Eels made the 2022 grand final while Tedesco won the 2018 and 2019 premierships with the Chooks.
Brooks finally decided to leave the Tigers at the end of last year and felt justified when the 2023 season was overshadowed by more coaching dramas.
The Manly recruit will now come up against Tedesco and the Roosters in Saturday night’s semi-final at Allianz Stadium.
Brooks, meanwhile, credited a tough night facing the Tigers for preparing him for his finals debut.
He said he felt mentally prepared to perform on the big stage after a shaky outing against his former club in the final month of the regular season.
As was the case ahead of last Sunday’s finals debut, there was plenty of anticipation surrounding Brooks’ return to Leichhardt Oval, the spiritual home of the club he represented for 11 seasons.
Maligned by Tigers fans for his inability to inspire a finals berth in that time, Brooks has admitted he felt nervous for the Round 25 clash and subsequently struggled to assert himself on the contest.
The Tigers eventually sprang a 34-26 upset on the highly fancied Sea Eagles.
But Brooks found he was able to shake the nerves ahead of his similarly highly-anticipated finals debut.
“(The nerves) weren’t too bad, to be honest,” he said.
“I felt like it was just another game, to be honest, just with a bigger crowd.
“I think (the Tigers game) came at the right time. Obviously it was a new experience for me and I probably didn’t handle it as well as I should have.
“I think it’s held me in good stead for these big games. I wasn’t too nervous going into the (finals) game, it definitely helped me.”
– with AAP