Wests Tigers coach Tim Sheens has accused the media of 'bullying' Luke Brooks as speculation continues to mount over the halfback's future.
Brooks, who is rapidly approaching 200 games in the halves for the Tigers since he debuted as the next big thing, has struggled during his career, and is yet to play a finals game.
The hounding over his future has continued in recent weeks, with the Tigers going on well-publicised chases of Cameron Munster, Mitchell Moses and even Mitchell Pearce this year.
It's not believed the Tigers have made a play for Jack Wighton at this stage, who is off-contract at the end of this season.
It comes with Brooks off-contract at the end of this year, and the club not yet beginning negotiations with him over a new deal by Brooks' own admission late last week.
Despite the lack of form, finals and his future speculation, Sheens said he is happy with the way Brooks is progressing after scoring a try and setting one up a couple of weeks ago.
"He's been copping it for the last 18 months, almost to the point of bullying, even by you guys. The media are giving it to him," Sheens told reporters.
"I've been happy with the way he is progressing. Two weeks ago he scored a good try, set one up."
Sheens continued that he thought Brooks played well last week, even though the Tigers fell apart in a 46 points to 12 loss at the hands of the Brisbane Broncos.
"I thought he was good for us last week, better than the other halves to be quite honest," Sheens said.
"I don't know what he has to do to get people off his back. My attitude is keep playing footy and keep working on his game.
"There is nothing major wrong with his game, it's just everyone expects him to score five tries a game for some reason."
The club, who have started the year with a zero and five record, brought in a number of forwards over the off-season, but following the departure of Jackson Hastings to the Newcastle Knights, have been unable to settle on a first-choice spine, with Adam Doueihi splitting his time between five-eighth and fullback so far this year.
The appointment of Sheens, who will coach for the next two seasons, has been widely challenged both in Australian and English media given his most recent stint was in charge of English-based clubs, but the coach, who took the club to their only premiership as a joint venture in 2005, told The Sydney Morning Herald, that he isn't going anywhere as he continued have Benji Marshall complete his apprenticeship under his guidance.
โBenji is already heavily involved, and we're working as a team,โ Sheens told the publication.
โI don't care what people say, my commitment is to this club.
โI love doing what I'm doing. I'm disappointed at times, as is every coach. But I'm not giving up on the season. I'm committed to this group.
โI said that after the Broncos loss. And I won't be giving up on this group.โ
