Leeds Rhinos target Luke Brooks offered huge deal to stay at NRL club Wests Tigers

Leeds were linked with the 28-year-old Wests Tigers scrum-half earlier this season and those rumours have reemerged in the Australian media in recent days.

Brooks is out of contract at the end of the current campaign, but Wests coach Tim Sheens is keen to keep him and the Australian Daily Telegraph newspaper now says he has been offered a two-year deal worth more than one million Australian dollars (£536,130).

Both Rhinos’ senior halves, Blake Austin and Aidan Sezer, are out of contract at the end of this season and their future at the club is undecided.

Born in Sydney, Brooks made his NRL debut in 2013 and has spent his entire top-flight career with Wests, scoring 43 tries, 22 goals and seven drop goals in 202 NRL appearances.

He was NRL rookie of the year in 2014 and voted the competition’s top half-back four years later, after an impressive ever-present season for Wests.

A former Australian Schoolboys international, his only representative honours came in 2015 when he was a substitute for NRL All Stars.

Brooks came under fire in the Australian media last season when Wests finished last on the league table.

That continued in the early part of this year as Tigers lost their opening seven games, but they have won three of their last five with Brooks’ improved form being credited with inspiring the turnaround in results.