It's all hypothetical, of course, but what can be said without any great debate is that insisting Brooks stay and honour his contract has made next to no difference to how the Tigers' season has panned out.

Barring an unlikely revival in the final four preliminary rounds, the Tigers are likely to finish either second last or stony motherless.

The coach who had shown such faith in Brooks for such a long period of time, Michael Maguire, could not escape the axe that for the best part of 12 months was being sharpened in the background.

And Brooks' own form has been so underwhelming that, barely a month ago, there was widespread speculation the Tigers were poised to drop their highest-paid player to NSW Cup.

Finally, just to cap it all off, it seems the enigmatic halfback won't play again this year after suffering a long-term calf injury.

With the benefit of hindsight, just consider where the Tigers might be had they agreed, back when the Knights first emerged as an interested party, in allowing Brooks to try his luck in greener pastures.

For starters, the Tigers could probably have agreed a mutual termination of the final two years of Brooks' remarkably lucrative contract and invited Newcastle to pick up the tab. That would have saved the Tigers, by all accounts, the best part of $2 million.

And while they were obviously concerned they might struggle for playmaking options without him, the stats suggest otherwise.

Of the 17 games Brooks has played this year, the Tigers won only two, yet they have won two out of three in his absence.

All of which leaves Tigers officials facing a far more complex dilemma than they were six months ago.

Brooks' contract for 2023 is reportedly worth in excess of $1 million, but it is hard to imagine he would be worth anywhere near that on the open market.

He is on such a big deal, and his form this year has been so uninspiring, that his options now appear limited.

If he stays at Concord, he will be paid top dollar, and for their part, new Tigers coach Tim Sheens and his assistant Benji Marshall have declared that is their intention.

As Sheens told News Limited recently: "He is contracted to us next year. And I expect him to turn up for pre-season training."

But Sheens is as wily as they come, and you would expect him to say that.

He would know full well that if Brooks and the Knights are still keen on a marriage of convenience, the two clubs will probably have to compromise.

And the more Newcastle are willing to offer, the less the Tigers will have to stump up to subsidise the deal.

Logically, the Tigers would be mad not to consider off-loading Brooks, especially now that Jackson Hastings and Adam Doueihi seem to have established themselves as the club's No.1 halves pairing, supported by a handy understudy in former Knights junior Jock Madden.

But it's in their best interests to drive a hard bargain. Whatever they might be able to negotiate with the Knights is money that can go towards strengthening their own roster.

Common sense suggests the Tigers will be in a stronger position next season if they allow Brooks to leave, and use those funds to augment their squad.

And what does that tell us about the Knights, who seemingly have lost no enthusiasm for signing Brooks, regardless of a 2022 campaign that he would prefer to forget? It tells us, without any need to read between the lines, how much pressure they are feeling.

Newcastle coaching consultant Andrew Johns is an unabashed Brooks fan and believes the 2018 Dally M halfback of the year will thrive in new surroundings.

The Knights are also entitled to look enviously at the impact Adam Reynolds and Chad Townsend have had since joining Brisbane and North Queensland respectively.

A quality playmaker can transform any team.

The difference, for mine, is that Reynolds and Townsend were both premiership-winning halfbacks at their previous clubs, who had each played in numerous finals matches.

Brooks, at 27 and after 189 games for the Tigers, is yet to make a single appearance in the play-offs.

In many ways, it reminds me of when then Knights Rick Stone signed Trent Hodkinson midway through the 2015 season.

Newcastle were in a nosedive and Stone gambled on the incumbent NSW Origin halfback to turn it around.

Unfortunately, Stone didn't survive the season and never had a chance to coach Hodkinson.

Instead Nathan Brown inherited him and, midway through their second season together, dropped his club captain to reserve grade.

Hodkinson moved on, two years into a three-season deal, having helped Newcastle win five games. He earned the best part of $2 million in the process.

That's not intended as a criticism of Hodkinson, a great clubman and true professional.

Presumably Brooks is, too.

Maybe he and the Knights will prove to be a match made in heaven. But after a season from hell, for both parties, I'll believe it when I see it.