Luke Brooks believes Wests Tigers have found their attacking blueprint with Jackson Hastings touching ball more than any other half in the last decade.
The Tigers will this week hunt for three straight wins for the first time in Michael Maguire's tenure, having last pulled off such a streak way back in early 2018.
Their last-minute wins over Parramatta and South Sydney have been the fairytale moments of the season, after their attack spluttered its way through their opening five losses.
But what was more impressive than Saturday's win over Souths was the way in which they did it.
The Tigers completed at 98 per cent, but still threw enough at South Sydney to score four tries and trouble the Rabbitohs line.
It's also no secret that Brooks has been freed up with his move to No.6, with the pressure off him mentally and feeling no chains on his game as a dominant half.
"I think so," Brooks said when asked if the Tigers had found their blueprint.
"Jacko being the dominant half definitely suits him. And I think for me being in the No.6 frees me up to just play to my strengths.
"Jacko is a natural leader and talker. He's really added a lot to our side in attack.
"I think we have found the way we want to play, but we've still got to work on a few things."
According to NRL Stats, Hastings touched the ball 90 times in their win over the Eels, before having 102 possessions on Saturday night against Souths.
To put it in context, the previous most by a halfback in the 10 seasons of NRL data on record was Jeff Robson with 97 in his first game for Parramatta in 2016.
"It wasn't really meant to be like that, it's just the way its panned out," Hastings said.
"I have played against Brooksy since we were kids and he has always been such an unreal runner of the football.
"I'm just trying to give him the opportunity to do what he does best, and that's set up tries.
"I'm happy to be like a lamp post out there and just give Brooksy the ball in space and see him reap the rewards."
Hastings was vocal early in the year that Tigers had to at times go away from structure, something that clearly been implemented since taking the No.7 jersey.
"Brooksy is taking short sides, our middles are running and offloading ... We're trying to move teams around," he said.
"Every time we move to the edge our centre and wing have done some damage.
"We know what works for us and we need to keep working on it."
