There is unrest in the Tigers playing group after Luke Brooks inexplicably beat Adam Doueihi for the club’s 2021 player of the year award in a confounding decision from the club.
The Daily Telegraph reported Tigers players were blowing up after a three-man panel awarded Brooks the best player of the season ahead of clear favourite Doueihi.
“It is a really interesting one and Michael Maguire, Adam Hartigan and board member Danny Stapleton vote for the player of the year,” Rothfield said on The Big Sports Breakfast.
“Luke Brooks had a fair season. I had a look at the Dally M’s and he got 12 points.
“But Adam Doueihi I think was the most obvious player of the year at any of the 16 clubs.
“He was so superior to any other player at that club. Maybe Daine Laurie was a reasonably close second.
“Doueihi got 20 points in the Dally M votes. He finished eighth in the entire NRL while playing in a fairly ordinary football side.
“And there are players there asking questions. How did Luke Brooks win? And that’s not good for team harmony when players are asking questions like that.
“It is just another really weird decision the Wests Tigers have made.”
Brooks did finish first in try assists at the Tigers with 23 to go with five linebreaks, 45 tackle busts and a try in 24 games 2021.
However Doueihi played four fewer games due to injury and still had 16 try assists, nine linebreaks, 50 tackle busts, nine tries and 69 goals for a tally of 174 points.
Rothfield revealed the players were in shock that Doueihi was not given the award, which seemed so straightforward given his exploits in 2021.
“I spoke to a player manager over the weekend, who has a couple of players at the Wests Tigers and he said most of the group are absolutely baffled about the fact that Adam Doueihi didn’t get the award and Luke Brooks did,” Rothfield said.
“That’s where I got my information and I checked it out with the Wests Tigers yesterday and there was certainly no denials there.”
Laurie Daley agreed that Doueihi’s was the Tigers most consistent player in 2021 by a decent margin.
“I thought Adam Doueihi was their best player,” Daley said.
“I think he was the standout for sure.
“Luke Brooks for me was OK this season and had his moments.
“But being consistent I thought that Adam Doueihi was by far and away their best.”
Story first published on Foxsports Australia