NRL news 2022, Wests Tigers, Jackson Hastings, team round 1, Luke Brooks, coach Michael Maguire, Tim Sheens
Rugby league guru Phil Gould believes new recruit Jackson Hastings can have a big hand in turning the Wests Tigers around.
Hastings, 26, isn’t one of the most heralded signings of the NRL off-season, but his return to the competition should excite fans of the western Sydney merger club.
He was a Dragons junior, before jumping ship to the Roosters and bursting onto the NRL scene in 2014. His arrival was highly anticipated, but over five seasons Hastings played only 47 games for the Tricolours and then Manly.
READ MORE: Coach quits Russian football club in war protest
READ MORE: World sport takes another swipe at Putin
READ MORE: Mundine’s surprise ahead of son’s huge move
He left Australia in controversy in 2018 following a bust-up with Sea Eagles skipper Daly Cherry-Evans.
Hastings opens up on ‘demons’
Hastings, exiled from the NRL, went to England where he spent three-and-a-half seasons in the Super League, with Salford then Wigan.
Now he returns home with a point to prove, and Gould says Hastings looms as the key man in a long-awaited Tigers resurgence.
“Jackson Hastings, he was the best player in England while he was over there,” Gould told Wide World of Sports’ Six Tackles with Gus podcast.
“He was, as a youngster, touted as probably the next big thing coming through. And for whatever reason, things didn’t work out for him and he felt the need to go away to England.
“I think he’s gone over there and matured, he’s developed a thick skin. He’s comfortable in his own skin, comfortable in the way he plays.
“He was extraordinary over there, he was really good for them. He’s come back with confidence.
“He’s got an instinct for points. He’s a genuine playmaker. If you hang around him, something will happen.
“He can kick for you, pass for you, dummy – he can do all sorts of things.
“He’s a chance of scoring points. The Tigers last year were minus 214 in their for-and-against, which is a long way off top-eight material.”
The headache for Tigers coach Michael Maguire will be where to fit Hastings into the line-up once Adam Doueihi returns from injury.
Doueihi and Luke Brooks would be considered the five-eighth and halfback respectively if Hastings wasn’t in the equation, but the newcomer adds a new dimension of intrigue to their selections.
Brooks, in particular, looks set for an interesting season.
The 27-year-old is their big-money playmaker, raking in about $900,000 per season, but he has failed to live up to the hype that saw him likened to Immortal halfback Andrew Johns a decade ago.
Brooks was the centre of off-season speculation linking him to a Knights move, but that hasn’t eventuated and he will start the year in a Tigers jersey.
How Hastings can help Wests Tigers
Brooks – naturally, as the highly-paid shot-caller – has worn the brunt of criticism for the club’s 10-year NRL finals drought. The Tigers haven’t made the playoffs since 2011, when Tim Sheens was coach.
Sheens is back at the club now in a coaching director role, overseeing the work of Maguire and the football operations more broadly.
While the Concord club has been a basket case for some time, Gould can see light at the end of the tunnel.
“It’s never easy being in losing situations. It doesn’t matter what part of the club you’re working in, you feel under pressure,” Gould said.
“They’ve made some significant changes over the off-season, bringing Tim Sheens in.
“I think they understand the short-term fixes don’t work, you’ve got to build for the future. That’s where Tigers fans need to be patient.
“Finally now I think they get what they need to do to build their club for the future.
“I think Tim Sheens will put some systems in place, and they will start building towards the future. Hopefully when we’re talking about these teams in five or six years’ time, the Tigers will look a lot different.”
The Tigers kick off their 2022 season against Melbourne on March 12.
For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by clicking here!
The backstories and controversies that have ignited the ugliest sporting feuds
