Declan Caddell praises Crusaders star who 'has come back absolutely flying'

The Scottish striker scored in a second consecutive friendly fixture on Saturday afternoon as the Crues picked up a 2-0 win against Warrenpoint Town. Brooks came through the youth ranks at Scottish giants Celtic and was a proven goalscorer for their B team before joining Inverness Caledonian Thistle as he looked to progress into senior football. The 22-year-old impressed during a stint at Queen of the South, scoring 10 goals and providing three assists in 23 League One matches during the 2024/25 campaign – form which earned him a move to Crusaders. Brooks struck seven times for Caddell’s side in the Premiership last season and finished as the club’s second-highest league goalscorer behind fellow countryman Fraser Bryden (22). With an Irish League campaign now under his belt, Brooks could be set to build upon that platform next term – and Caddell has been impressed by his levels in pre-season. "He's one that has come back absolutely flying,” Caddell told the club’s media channel. “You could probably see it from the first training session they arrived back in. "He looks really fit, really sharp, you can see he has been doing a bit away from the ground over the summer. "Brooksy is a top class player and he has always had that in his locker, we could even see it in pre-season last year and his confidence took a dip as the season went on. "It's good to see him with two in two, a wee bit of quality to unlock, and that's what you need.” Crusaders start the new Premiership campaign with a trip to rivals Cliftonville on Friday, August 7 and will now ramp up preparations. Caddell’s side play a further five friendlies before travelling to Solitude with Ballinamallard United next up at Seaview on Saturday - and he wants his players to grasp the opportunity. "They're definitely getting fitter,” added Caddell. “Some boys are right at the top of that list, others are playing catch up depending on what they did over the summer. "We have to manage that as well as we move along, but fitness levels are going up, that's for sure. "It's four weeks until the start of the season, time is ticking so we need to double down and work a bit harder again. "Game time will increase in terms of the pre-season games and everybody is fighting for that shirt. "It's good for me, come Cliftonville on August 7, I can only pick 11 players to start, so the shirts are up for grabs and it's up to the players to take them. "Judging from last pre-season, to bring up so many reserve team players to fill the bench and get minutes in the legs, you have 22-24 fit boys in there now. "You want minutes in the legs and no injuries so you can move on. We'll up it as the weeks go on looking to the start of the league, but 100% we're where we want to be at this time."