Luke Brooks’ message to James Tedesco after Wests Tigers’ jab at ‘disloyal
Brooks has identified Tedesco as the player Manly must stop this weekend.
Sea Eagles halfback Luke Brooks, a former flatmate of Manly halfback Luke Brooks, has informed Tedesco that his opponent will shut him down on Saturday night. Brooks is planning to show his friend some extra love this weekend in an attempt to assist his team advance to the last four, having had to wait 4040 days for his maiden NRL finals participation.
Mitch Moses and Brooks and Tedesco lived together at Hunter’s Hill for a year, and the three have stayed friends ever since. Tedesco left the Sydney Roosters soon after joining, having won titles in his first two years of play there. Moses, Brooks’ other flatmate, participated in finals during his first season without the joint venture club and was mentioned in a grand final for the Eels in 2022.
Nevertheless, Brooks remained with the Tigers, thus until he joined Manly this season, he had never played in a finals football match. His ultimate ambition of winning a grand final is currently being thwarted by Tedesco and the Roosters, and Brooks stated that his team’s primary emphasis is on eliminating his former housemate.
On Thursday, Brooks stated, “I probably don’t look at it too much like (coming up against a mate).” Perhaps that will be something we reflect on in the future.
“We will need to stop him from a tactical standpoint. He has been playing excellently and contributes greatly to their cause. We need to put an end to him if we want to win the game. If we can limit his opportunities as much as possible, it will help us.”
‘Disloyal’ Tigers players are targeted by Shane Richardson.
After Manly defeated Canterbury 24–22, Wests Tigers CEO Shane Richardson made a rare and peculiar statement in which he applauded Brooks. After playing 205 games for the Tigers, the halfback departed at the end of the previous campaign.
The joint venture also posted a message on their website in honour of their former player’s first-ever NRL finals victory. “Wests Tigers wish to congratulate former halfback Luke Brooks on his achievements over the weekend for Manly Warringah Sea Eagles,” said the statement.
Although there was nothing wrong with the statement, it certainly raised more than a few eyebrows, especially due to Richardson’s final line where he took a swipe at other ‘disloyal’ players who have pulled on a Tigers jersey in the past.
“On behalf of everyone here at Wests Tigers, I want to congratulate Luke on achieving something that he has wanted for a long time,” Richardson 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 notably stuck with the struggling Tigers when he was off-contract along with fellow stars Moses, Tedesco and Aaron Woods at the end of the 2017 season. Moses left for Parramatta and Tedesco joined the Roosters at the end of the season, while Woods signed a deal with the Bulldogs before making a shock mid-season switch to Cronulla in 2018.
And maligned by Tigers fans for his inability to inspire a finals berth in his time at the club, Brooks finally decided to leave the Tigers at the end of last year. But his decision to join another club after spending years trying to lift the Tigers to a finals berth was met with overall positivity, unlike the ugly exits of stars such as Tedesco and Moses. But the NRL world still felt the joint venture’s message of congratulations to Brooks was not a good look.
