‘He’s not going to talk to me about what he’s doing with Brooksy’: Pressure mounting on Tigers halves

Brandon Wakeham would’ve become a plumber if the Tigers hadn’t thrown him a lifeline before the start of the season, but it’s now on him and Luke Brooks to flush a horror opening four rounds as speculation mounts on the halfback’s future at the club.

The Tigers are anchored to the foot of the ladder and must now face the Broncos, Eels, Sea Eagles and Panthers with a bye thrown in to drag out what could be another winless month.

There had been plenty of optimism around the club in the pre-season with a promise to bring back the attacking brilliance of the glory days, but Tim Sheens’ return hasn’t saved them yet, with the veteran coach already ringing the changes.

Wakeham came on midway through the second half against the Bulldogs in round 3 and sparked a comeback against his former club that was enough for Sheens to throw him in the halves alongside Luke Brooks.

That moved Adam Doueihi to fullback but the reshuffle didn’t have the desired effect, with their attack struggling for any fluency against the Storm.

“I wasn’t too happy with my game,” Wakeham said.

“I sort of let them off the hook with a couple of errors and seven tackle sets which put us on the back foot. If I can tidy up that then it’ll put us in a better position to win the game.

“I came in late so that didn’t help. I filled in here and there, but that’s no excuse for us losing. We need to be better.”

All eyes will be on the spine when the team is named on Tuesday afternoon, with Sheens expected to stick with the same halves pairing for the Broncos game.

Wakeham said he’d spoken to Sheens about his plans going forward, but that didn’t include any information on who his halves partner would be, with Brooks training on Tuesday with strapping on his calf.

“He’s not going to talk to me about what he’s doing with Brooksy,” he said.

“It does help if the same combination is in there every week. If we can all play well at the same time then we can keep our jobs.

“Sheens has said that he’s not going to chop and change the team each week, but in saying that, I have to play good footy.

“I know that if I don’t play good footy then I’ll be out of the team, so it’s on me to do my job. If that’s not done then I’ll be playing reserve grade.”

Wakeham had the six on his back last week but played like a traditional No.7, with his controlling style seen as a way to allow Brooks to roam freely and run the ball at will.

“I feel like that’s what I do naturally. That’s where I love to play the game and it means Brooks can run,” he said.

All the focus has been on Brooks in the opening rounds and Wakeham says the onus is on everyone to improve to make his life easier.

“I think it’s all of us as a team. It’s not just me getting Brooks better. If we call do our jobs just a little bit better then it’ll go a long way to us winning,” he said.

“It’s only a couple of weeks of us training together. Every week I feel like we’re getting better and hopefully this week I can show that.

“It didn’t click last week, but the signs at training and the way we’re talking about the game shows that we have the same ideas. Hopefully, it starts showing soon.”