WESTS Tigers coach Michael Maguire has reacted to the club’s 0-5 start to the season by telling new recruit Jackson Hastings he will be running the side.

Fox League has been told Maguire will name Hastings in the Wests Tigers no.7 jumper at 4pm Tuesdaywith Brooks to be named at five-eighth in the the no.6.

Maguire has also wielded the axe by dropping co-captain Ken Maumalo, English import centre Oliver Gildart and hooker Jacob Liddle as the Tigers prepare for the Easter Monday round six showdown against the high-flying Eels.

Stream every game of every round of the 2022 NRL Telstra Premiership Season Live & Ad-Break Free During Play on Kayo. New to Kayo? Try 14-days free now.

Raiders

Hastings has been suspended for the past three weeks yet despite his absence the Tigers coaching department have clearly decided the side needs better direction from an organising, playmaking chief.

Hastings has only played two NRL matches for Wests Tigers since returning from England but the UK Super League Man of Steel from 2019 has been told he will be the club’s chief playmaker.

Brooks has endured a challenging start to the season after the Tigers playmaker twice asked the club for a release over the course of the off season to join the Newcastle Knights.

MORE NRL NEWS

RESERVES WRAP: Croker ‘ready to go’ as ‘sensational’ 80-min Raiders prop stuns

REPORT CARD: One ugly ‘fail’, Broncos face grim reality as dark horse upsets order

‘I’D BE TEMPTED’: Smith’s telling advice to Munster as big $500k call looms

MILFORD: These are the clubs that could make a move for the cut-price playmaker

The Tigers rejected the approach and the Tigers have since set about trying to put an arm around Brooks in the hope his form turns around.

But with Maguire fighting to save his own career as a coach, the 2014 premiership-winner has turned to Hastings to become the Tigers new primary playmaker.

There’s also a school of thought Brooks’s game is more suited to the simply trying to play the role of a running five-eighth.

The Tigers remain the only side in the NRL yet to register a victory with coach Maguire clearly looking to extract more from the club’s roster.

Maumalo, who was named as one of the club’s five co-captains earlier this season, has been axed along with new recruit centre Gildart meaning the Tigers will field a new pairing on the club’s left edge.

Fox League has been told backrower Luke Garner and winger Starford To’a are the most likely replacements.

Jake Simpkin is the club’s other alternative to play hooker instead of Liddle.

Get all the latest NRL news, highlights and analysis delivered straight to your inbox with Fox Sports Sportmail. Sign up now!!