Tough love worked for Benji, now it's Brooks' turn: Maguire

Time away from the starting side helped Benji Marshall and now Wests Tigers coach Michael Maguire is hoping the same tough love works wonders for Luke Brooks.

Before Friday night's 48-0 humiliation of the Brisbane Broncos, Brooks had played every one of his 138 NRL games in the No.7 jersey.

But after Maguire had removed Marshall for a few weeks after a dip in form, he did the same thing to Brooks.

Marshall assumed the No.7 reins and did so with aplomb.

Brooks watched it all from the sideline, gaining just 17 minutes on the field in the last quarter of the game.

"It's the same as what Benji went through. Benji showed exactly what you should do when you face a bit of aversity," Maguire said.

"I thought Benji was fantastic. It was the Benji Marshall that I know... It's a message for all the young kids and for every senior player in the game – put your head down and work.

"I'm very proud of the boys – nice to see. The players have really taken account of what we're trying to do at the club.

"It's been known over the last month that we wanted a change, and the boys are doing that."

Maguire directed particular praise to veteran prop Russell Packer.

"I was really pleased with him…. Since I've been at the club Russ hasn't been able to train much, and there's always been attention to how I'm going with him," Maguire said.

"But he hasn't been able to get out onto the field. Fortunately with our medical staff they were able to find something in his foot that they were able to fix and now all of a sudden he's training.

"It was an outstanding performance for a bloke that hasn't played much throughout the season."

Packer's only other appearance in 2020 was 12 minutes against the Raiders in round five.

In round 10 on Friday night he played 54 minutes and made 150 metres with 15 runs, and made 35 tackles.

While that was fairly impressive for a starting prop, Josh Aloiai topped it even after having to undergo a COVID-19 test midweek because he lives in the south-west Sydney cluster area of the virus.

Aloiai made 193 metres in his 56 minutes, including a massive 96 post-contact metres as he dragged Broncos defenders along with him in nearly every run.

"The starting forwards worked really well together and then the bench comes on and continues it," Maguire said.

The Tigers have only won seven times in their 30 meetings with the Broncos. But none of the previous six wins were by more than four points. So the 48-0 triumph is sure to be celebrated.

Maguire said he wanted the boys to do just that but then he'll be pumping them again as they face competition leaders the Eels next round at Bankwest Stadium.

"We need to back that up now. That's the one I'm looking forward to – watching the attitude of the boys and taking that mentality into our next game."