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King hit

King hit

Coach
Messages
13,803
Fufu Andronez said:
Souths have a lot of money tied up in that spine now with Reynolds, Inglis and Cook. 2 of them are quite injury prone lately and 1 of them has had 1 good year of footy.
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TBF on Cook he did show some real potential in his stint at the Bulldogs but never got the chance to prove himself over time. He got that chance this year and he sure made the most of it.
 
Tiger5150

Tiger5150

Bench
Messages
3,156
Different kind of Rabbit said:
Question is, now that coaches of other teams have worked him out a bit and identify him as a threat, does his game continue to evolve? If he can add some more strings to his bow and improve his passing and game management a bit, he will be worth every penny.
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Not being a smartarse but this is the key element. Basically what you are saying is, he is quick and can run a gap but if he "can just improve all the hooker things, he will be a good hooker".

This is the question with Cook. Other than his running game, his dummy half game is not exceptional.

Time will tell.
 
Tommy Smith

Tommy Smith

Referee
Messages
21,344
I remember Jake Granville having an awesome single season as a running hooker in 2015. The rest of his game is average, too.

He's been shit ever since.
 
A

AJB1102

First Grade
Messages
6,339
Cook got kissed on the dick by a fairy godmother in 2018:

Souths were allowed to play touch footy style rucks bringing his exceptional running to the fore.

NSW have a massive change up under Freddy so he's a no brainer for an Origin jersey with almost no competition to verse the worst QLD side in a decade or more.

Then Smith pulls the plug and gifts him the Aussie hooking role.

All this when his contract is coming to renegotiation time.

Lucky bastard.

I don't see him maintaining his 2018. It all unraveled in the finals. Like @Tiger5150 said, the things he needs to improve are the fundamentals of a #9. Without the opportunity to run he's not much threat.
 
Different kind of Rabbit

Different kind of Rabbit

Coach
Messages
15,545
Tiger5150 said:
Not being a smartarse but this is the key element. Basically what you are saying is, he is quick and can run a gap but if he "can just improve all the hooker things, he will be a good hooker".

This is the question with Cook. Other than his running game, his dummy half game is not exceptional.

Time will tell.
Click to expand...

To be fair though, his game management and passing have actually improved already as well. I think he learned a lot from the stint that Robbie Farah had at Souths and besides this, his overall fitness improved last year and I think this also had a positive effect on his game.

In 2017 he was basically an impact / bench hooker. Good for a 20 minute stint running around tired forwards.

This year he became an 80 minute player and if you ignore his speed for a minute, you could still pick him as an 80 minute player based on his good service and solid defense. In 2017, if you took his speed away, he’d be lucky to be NSW cup standard.

The fact that he is lightning quick has gone from being his only attribute to just the icing on the cake now and it’s what takes him from being just another solid NRL hooker to being the NSW and Aus hooker.

People also point to the back end of his season this year and say that the wheels fell off and that may be true but he played 80 minutes in just about every game for us, plus he played Origin and backed up. That can’t be easy first time around for a guy that was basically a bench player 12 months ago. Sure his form dropped but I think that was as much to do with fatigue as it was anything else. This is one area where Bennett will help. He knows how to manage fatigue around origin.
 
Danish

Danish

Referee
Messages
31,875
So many of my Souths fan relatives complain to me about how on earth my roosters can afford the squad we do.

It’s because we don’t pay f**kers $900K after 12 good games.

Hell I thought when we let RTS and Maloney walk it was 2 of the worst decisions made by any club.... then we wound up paying unders for Teddy and Keary a few years later.

Souths should have been looking to extend Cook for no more than a couple seasons for a good but not great pay increase. I guess their hand was forced a bit though with Seibold jumping ship and undoubtedly getting in his ear about a move to Brissy.

At least Souths weren’t dumb enough to give a pay day to a rookie coach though. Broncos will regret that within a couple years
 
Tiger5150

Tiger5150

Bench
Messages
3,156
Different kind of Rabbit said:
To be fair though, his game management and passing have actually improved already as well. I think he learned a lot from the stint that Robbie Farah had at Souths and besides this, his overall fitness improved last year and I think this also had a positive effect on his game.

In 2017 he was basically an impact / bench hooker. Good for a 20 minute stint running around tired forwards.

This year he became an 80 minute player and if you ignore his speed for a minute, you could still pick him as an 80 minute player based on his good service and solid defense. In 2017, if you took his speed away, he’d be lucky to be NSW cup standard.

The fact that he is lightning quick has gone from being his only attribute to just the icing on the cake now and it’s what takes him from being just another solid NRL hooker to being the NSW and Aus hooker.

People also point to the back end of his season this year and say that the wheels fell off and that may be true but he played 80 minutes in just about every game for us, plus he played Origin and backed up. That can’t be easy first time around for a guy that was basically a bench player 12 months ago. Sure his form dropped but I think that was as much to do with fatigue as it was anything else. This is one area where Bennett will help. He knows how to manage fatigue around origin.
Click to expand...

No question Cook is a good player and a dangerous runner. Whether he is worth this massive payday, as a hooker, time will tell but on evidence to date I have my doubts. There is probably a player at every club like that to be fair (Reynolds at mine).
 
Tiger5150

Tiger5150

Bench
Messages
3,156
Danish said:
So many of my Souths fan relatives complain to me about how on earth my roosters can afford the squad we do.

It’s because we don’t pay f**kers $900K after 12 good games.

Hell I thought when we let RTS and Maloney walk it was 2 of the worst decisions made by any club.... then we wound up paying unders for Teddy and Keary a few years later.

Souths should have been looking to extend Cook for no more than a couple seasons for a good but not great pay increase. I guess their hand was forced a bit though with Seibold jumping ship and undoubtedly getting in his ear about a move to Brissy.

At least Souths weren’t dumb enough to give a pay day to a rookie coach though. Broncos will regret that within a couple years
Click to expand...

I actually have a feeling both Souffs & Broncos may regret this phase.
 
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