Weirdly I expect Brooks to be the one to stand up in a finals game, and for Fogarty to just do his job.
It’s not like we have much of a sample size with Brooks in big games anyway… The Tigers pigeon-holed him into basically being a copy of Fogarty, a consistent game manager week in week out… He is not that. Both parties suffered for this.
Whenever the heat has been applied on him while at Manly, or whenever it’s a big occasion, he’s gone back to the basics of a “6”, which are also his strongest areas. As a result, he’s had some great games under the bright lights. He had a great game against Melbourne last year, and again this year.
He was also strong in both of our finals games last year. DCE, Olakau’atu, Paseka, and Talau were the only others who were strong in both games.
The way I see it, Fogarty is there to get us to the finals. He can do this like he has done it for the Raiders since he joined; being consistent, and executing a game plan. That is his strength… And something we have been lacking since Foran left.
However, unless you’re the 2022 Panthers, that’s not enough to win finals games. You need x-factor.
Turbo and co are here to win us those finals.