Phil Gould has come out swinging at the Wests Tigers over their treatment of Luke Brooks as the halfback prepares to test himself on the open market.Brooks recently rejected a three-year deal with the Tigers, and could become an attractive option for a number of NRL and overseas clubs, including Gould's Canterbury Bulldogs. Having played 202 games for the club, the halfback has played some of the best football of his career in the last month but could still leave after a tough few seasons.Gould believes the rejection doesn't mean he's definitely heading out the door, stating it's the "first time in his life he has stood up for himself". "I think he just needs more thinking music, I don't think it's a fait accompli that he won't stay at the Tigers, he just needs more thinking music," he said on Nine's 100% Footy.The Canterbury Bulldogs general manager said a pivotal moment in 2017 when James Tedesco, Aaron Woods and Mitchell Moses all left the Tigers has played a significant role in Brooks' turbulent time at the club."At a very important time in his career, and the Tigers history, they lost Tedesco, Mitchell Moses and Aaron Woods ... three of them went, and left him in charge," he said."Not only did they leave him in charge they went out and bought really badly, didn't they?"They screwed up their salary cap with a heap of buys that did nothing for them and he was the front bat and I kept saying during that time, Luke Brooks is not the problem with Wests Tigers, Wests Tigers is the problem with Luke Brooks."I think at a very important time in his career he was left on his own, that could've been a really formidable young group with Tedesco and Mitchell Moses and Luke Brooks who were coming through as kids together and I think that was a real opportunity lost for that club, they should never have lost those players."At 28 years old, Gould believes Brooks still has some of his best football in front of him."So as soon as someone starts to believe in that (his best years are ahead), and he needs to believe in that himself, whether he does or not I don't know, then Luke Brooks can have a really great back end of his career," he said."He's a 28 year old with 200 NRL games under his belt and I think he's a talented player, I think there should be a number of clubs having a look at that, there's very few of them (halfbacks) around."Gould explained Brooks shouldn't feel to indebted to the Tigers after the club previously expressed interest in signing Shaun Johnson and Mitchell Pearce as replacements.
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