Sea Eagles swoop to sign Brooks on four-year NRL deal

Luke Brooks has signed a four-year NRL deal with Manly after 11 seasons at Wests Tigers. (Steven Markham/AAP PHOTOS)

Luke Brooks is set to become Manly's five-eighth from 2024 after signing a four-year contract that signals an end to a tumultuous 11 seasons at Wests Tigers.

The deal comes amid a spending spree that has lured outside backs Jaxson Paulo and Tommy Talau from rival clubs while also securing Tolu Koula's future at Manly despite speculation of a switch to rugby union.

Off-contract at the end of 2023, the 28-year-old Brooks rejected the Tigers' offer of a new deal earlier this month after years of speculation that a fresh start could benefit the much-maligned playmaker.

Despite links to Newcastle, Canterbury and North Queensland, Manly confirmed Brooks' signing on Monday afternoon.

Brooks, sidelined with a hamstring injury, is earning more than $1 million this season on a back-ended Tigers contract.

He will partner Queensland State of Origin representative Daly Cherry-Evans in the halves, freeing the recruit up to play the kind of eyes-up, running football that suits him, and which has frequently been lost in his role as the Tigers' game-manager.

"Luke is a quality halfback,’’ Manly coach Anthony Seibold said.

“He has got a fantastic left-foot kicking game and is a really good runner of the football.

“We feel as though he will add to the spine players we have already got at our club.”

The move looks likely to spell the end of Josh Schuster's time as Manly's five-eighth.

Off-contract at the end of next year, the highly rated back-rower missed last year's World Cup to trim down and learn the ways of the five-eighth.

But he has struggled for form in his new position, not least due to a run of injuries.

Brooks made his NRL debut as a 19-year-old, earning comparisons to Newcastle great Andrew Johns before he had played a first-grade match.

But he has been unable to inspire the Tigers to the finals in his 202-game stint at the club, leaving him on the receiving end of repeated and often intense public and media criticism.

He is the most-capped active player to never have made a finals appearance, though has shown glimpses of brilliance since debuting in 2013. 

Brooks was named the 2018 Dally M Halfback of the Year and enjoyed an upswing in form prior to his hamstring injury this season, notably guiding Wests to a 66-18 thrashing of North Queensland in his 200th game.

Manly have also re-signed centre Koula until the end of 2027, reiterating his status as a player of the future and keeping him out of the clutches of rugby union.

After Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii signed a rich deal to join Rugby Australia earlier this year, speculation emerged as to which other former schoolboy stars could follow him.

Koula had been considered a candidate, but any such switch is now well and truly in the distant future.

“With Tolu now signed on for another couple of years, we are really looking forward to seeing him play his best football," Seibold said.

Joining Koula in the outside backs next year will be Tigers centre Talau and Paulo of the Sydney Roosters, who have signed two and three-year deals respectively.

Confirmation of Brooks' exit means the Tigers must shift their attention urgently to their halves situation for 2024.

First-choice five-eighth Adam Doueihi will be sidelined well into next season with an anterior cruciate ligament injury he suffered in April, while back-up playmaker Brandon Wakeham is off-contract at the end of this season.

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