Cory hopes to kick-start season in All Stars game
BY BRETT KEEBLE
KNIGHTS strike weapon Cory Paterson hopes to use selection in the Indigenous All Stars for a pre-season showcase against the NRL All Stars as a springboard into his year of redemption.
One week since polling kicked off, the 22-year-old back-rower is among the leading vote-getters for the Indigenous team to take on the NRL's best of the rest at Skilled Park on February 13.
Voting closes on November 15, but as of yesterday, after more than 8000 votes had been logged at
www.nrl.com/allstars, Paterson was listed at lock alongside the likes of Test and Origin representatives Johnathan Thurston, Greg Inglis and Justin Hodges.
"It's nice to know the fans out there are voting for me and want me to play in a great spectacle like that," said Paterson, who represented the Prime Minister's XIII against Papua New Guinea a little more than 12 months ago.
"It would be a privilege and a massive honour, representing your people in a game like that with so many talented players on the field at the same time. It will really put footy on the map.
"It's nice to know the fans still rate me and have shown faith in me, so hopefully they keep voting for me. It would be awesome to be part of it."
After playing 20 games in his debut NRL season of 2007 then 22 last year, Paterson was restricted to just 11 this year. He was diagnosed with clinical depression in April and was unable to cement a regular spot in first grade when he returned.
But Paterson said he had used the team's off-season break to rest and recharge.
Herald
