Wests Tigers chief executive Shane Richardson congratulated Brooks in a rare and somewhat bizarre statement following Manly's 24-22 win over Canterbury. The halfback left the Tigers at the end of last season after 205 games with the club. And the joint venture celebrated their former player's first NRL finals win with a statement on their website. "Wests Tigers wish to congratulate former halfback Luke Brooks on his achievements over the weekend for Manly Warringah Sea Eagles," the statement began. 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.
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