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Luke Brooks is set to take a huge pay cut to sign with Manly after rejecting a contract extension tabled by the Wests Tigers.
Brooks has become fed up with being the face of the Tigers’ 11-year finals drought and, at 28, has decided the time is right for a fresh start.
Nine’s Danny Weidler reports that Brooks is closing in on a “long term” deal to join the Sea Eagles.
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Weidler reported it “could be a four-year deal”, while News Corp has reported that the term of the deal is likely to be three years, with a contract value of about $2 million.
That would be a huge downgrade on his current deal, with the maligned halfback currently one of the top five highest paid players in the NRL on a deal in the ball park of $1.15 million-a-season. A $650,000-a-season deal would drop him down more than 60 places on the NRL list of richest salaries.
Manly are not in a position to pay Brooks anywhere near his current salary, with Daly Cherry-Evans and Tom Trbojevic both paid in excess of $1 million-a-season, while Jake Trbojevic is on a deal worth just shy of $1 million a season and young gun Josh Schuster is already earning about $800,000-a-season.
Schuster will be the player most impacted by the Brooks deal, with the Manly five-eighth in danger of being moved into the back-row in favour of a Cherry-Evans/Brooks halves combination, should the 22-year-old agree to a lucrative three-year contract extension, as expected.
The Brooks move is a huge gamble for the Sea Eagles, who have publicly backed the talented Schuster to be a long-term star of the club despite battling issues with his form and fitness this season.
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Having promised Schuster he would be the club’s long-term five-eighth, the Sea Eagles look to have hastily abandoned that plan in the search for a premiership before Daly Cherry-Evans retires.
At 34, Cherry-Evans is still one of the best players in the game and recently signed a contract extension that will likely take him to the end of his career in 2025.
That gives the Sea Eagles two years of a likely Cherry-Evans/Brooks combination before a 24-year-old Schuster is given the reins.
Whether or not Schuster is willing to sit back and let things unfold that way is another matter.
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