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Stunning swap rumour has Luke Brooks AND Michael Maguire leaving the Tigers to be replaced by premiership-winning coach Shane Flanagan and his halfback son Kyle
- Wests Tigers are currently 0-4 to start the NRL season and pressure is mounting
- Coach Michael Mcguire and halfback Luke Brooks are under the most pressure
- It has been reported that Brooks could swap clubs with Bulldog Kyle Flanagan
- That deal would likely include the Tigers coaching job going to Shane Flanagan
Luke Brooks and coach Michael Maguire could both be shipped from the Wests Tigers in a stunning swap deal with the Bulldogs.
Maguire and his halfback Brooks have worn the brunt of blame for the Tigers’ shocking start to the 2022 NRL season including their stumbling loss to the Titans on Thursday that many fans dubbed the worst game they had ever seen.
Meanwhile, halfback Kyle Flanagan is stuck in reserve grade limbo at the Bulldogs with no signs of a return to firsts after he was relegated in 2021.
Kyle Flanagan is on the outer with the Bulldogs and is not even training with the first grade side, instead playing for Mounties in the NSW Cup
The Daily Telegraph’s Paul Kent said Flanagan and Brooks are rumoured to be set to swap clubs and that the deal would include coach Shane Flanagan switching to the Tigers in a package deal with his son.
‘After Brooks twice had requests for a release to Newcastle rejected over the summer – [director of football Tim] Sheens declaring he was going nowhere – the Bulldogs have emerged as the latest interest,’ Kent wrote.
‘The Bulldogs move is part of a bigger conspiracy.
‘It begins with Kyle Flanagan moving to the Tigers in a swap for Brooks, with a side deal done to square up the money.
Luke Brooks is under fire at the Tigers after failing to deliver results since his debut in 2013. It has been reported his management twice asked for a release in the off-season.
‘The Bulldogs would happily swap him for Brooks.
‘The right bower, however, is that Flanagan will land at Leichhardt as part of a package deal that includes his father Shane.’
Flanagan had previously been banned from coaching and received a one-year suspension from the NRL in 2014 for his role in the Cronulla Sharks peptides scandal.
His coaching ended this year and he is free to take up an NRL head coaching role at the Tigers. Flanagan is currently working as a list management consultant at the Dragons and as a commentator.
After copping a ban from coaching in the NRL over the Sharks peptide scandal, Shane Flanagan is now free to coach and is rumoured to be heading to West Tigers
The Sydney Morning Herald’s Andrew Webster said on SEN Radio that Mcguire was on thin ice.
‘He’s running out of things to say,’ he said.
‘He said last night after the match, ‘we keep doing that things will turn’, I reckon he’s been saying that things will turn for two seasons.’
After four straight losses the Tigers now face a tough stretch of games against the Sharks, Eels, Rabbits, Dragons and then Manly.
‘It’s conceivable that they won’t win any of those, at what point does Tim Sheens … … pull the trigger?’ Webster asked.
Former Broncos player Denan Kemp then questioned whether Brooks had the backing of teammates at Concord.
‘They’ve got Luke Brooks there, he’s the man but there’s no real backing behind him,’ Kemp said.
‘Do they get behind him as a team? Do they not get behind him as a team? Is he confident?
‘They say he was looking to go to Newcastle at the end of the year.’
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