Brooks breaks Sea Eagles
LUKE Brooks has turned on the best performance of his NRL career to help the Wests Tigers crunch Manly 38-12 at Brookvale.
In a phenomenal first half, Brooks put on three tries and scored one of his own as the Tigers put on a 26-0 lead to help keep them fourth with a 5-1 record to start the year.
Benji Marshall was also brilliant yesterday, scoring twice, but the star was Brooks as he forced three line dropouts to set up one of the most dominant opening halves in recent memory.
In total, the Tigers controlled a whopping 72 per cent of possession in the first half, including a 15-minute period in which Manly didn’t have a play the ball but conceded 14 points.
By the break, the Tigers had also run more than three times as many metres as Manly, had 70 more runs and been forced to make 103 fewer tackles.
One of the most improved players of 2018, Brooks crossed once from dummy-half himself, kicked for another and showed off his passing game when he put Kevin Naiqama through from in his own half for Malakai Watene-Zelezniak to score.
Marshall also showed signs of his best, running onto a Brooks ball to cross before the break before he pulled out his famous sidestep to open the Tigers’ account in the second half.
The Tigers’ embarrassment of the hosts reached far beyond the scoreboard as the Sea Eagles were loudly booed off at halftime by a crowd of 15,546.