NRL 2022: Souths hooker Damien Cook to bring back running game as rookie nips at his heels
Damien Cook has admitted playing alongside dominant halves had blunted his attacking prowess but with Adam Reynolds gone and a rookie at his back, the hooker is ready to run.
Fatima Kdouh
February 1, 2022 - 6:15PM
Damien Cook is preparing to “express” his attacking running game on the field once again now that veteran halfback Adam Reynolds is no longer at the Redfern club and a rookie rake is nipping at his heels.
At the peak of his powers in 2018, Cook forced himself into the NSW Blues outfit and kept veteran hooker Robbie Farah out of the Rabbitohs side.
Cook averaged a career-high 90 metres per game in that year, which dipped to 43 metres in 2019, jumped back up to 63 metres in 2020 and dropped back to 43 metres last season.
Cook concedes playing in a spine with an established halves combination has blunted some of his attacking prowess.
But with a rookie halfback, likely to be Lachlan Illias, to line-up alongside Cody Walker, and a new coach in Jason Demetriou now in charge of running attacking structures, Cook is poised to return to the form that made him one the most dangerous dummy halves in the game.
“I look forward to the extra responsibility,” Cook said. “With Reno there and then Cody on the other side, your role as a hooker becomes really easy.
“It can be a bad thing [with established halves] because it can limit you. With Reno not there and me taking some responsibility back this season, I might be able to express my game a bit more again.
“We’ll see what happens. But there isn’t a lot we need to change in our side as a whole. A lot of us really understand our roles really well in this team at the moment.
“With the way the game is going, us middles know we have to tire out the defenders in front of us and create space for outside backs, we have some great backs that can move in open space. That’s our job.
“But I definitely have to take some responsibility back between myself and Cody.
“I’m going to enjoy the extra responsibility without Reno and helping the young half grow as a player and fit into our team as best he can.”
Cook, 30, has spent the pre-season working closely alongside his understudy, rising rake Peter Mamouzelos, who played three games after making his NRL debut last season.
The local junior is signed until the end of 2024 and is viewed as the future long-term hooking option at the club.
Cook is expecting Mamouzelos to start challenging him for the No.9 jumper.
“I’d like to think that we also test each other as well to bring out the best in both of us,” Cook said. “He’s going to play a lot of NRL, his natural talent is waiting to come out, he’ll play first grade easy.
“He just wants to learn, he’s a great little hooker. He’s brave and he’s strong in defence and he’s willing to learn and he wants to grow his game. I’m really enjoying working alongside him. He’s always happy to chat and ask questions, so we stick close to each other out.”
Cook also revealed the parting words from Wayne Bennett before the mastercoach coach officially signed off at the Rabbitohs after three season at the helm.
“I felt like he was really hard on me while he was here,” Cook said. “But that was for good reason, he wanted a response and wanted me to continue to grow as a player.
“He said he really enjoyed coaching me and that he knew what he was going to get. He knew I was always going to go out there and give my best. It was really good to hear from him.”
