Damien Cook

[Hound of Dracula]

Must admit I am a little non - plussed regarding Cook but can see why.

BUT THIS

'Jack Bird has re-signed for a further season

the 29-year-old has triggered an option for next year prior to the June 30 deadline as opposed to becoming a free agent.'

Made my heart sink!

 

[Parko1310]

Must admit I am a little non - plussed regarding Cook but can see why.

BUT THIS

'Jack Bird has re-signed for a further season

the 29-year-old has triggered an option for next year prior to the June 30 deadline as opposed to becoming a free agent.'

Made my heart sink!

Dear oh dear. That is one we didn't need on the books.

 

[justadragon]

Must admit I am a little non - plussed regarding Cook but can see why.

BUT THIS

'Jack Bird has re-signed for a further season

the 29-year-old has triggered an option for next year prior to the June 30 deadline as opposed to becoming a free agent.'

Made my heart sink!

NNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO !!!!!!!!!!!

 

[justadragon]

Well I'm hoping I dont go off too early but anyway, Welcome back mate, if you made the choice to come back to the Dragons especially if the Roosters were involved, then well done. All the best to you in the next couple of seasons and may the Dragons prosper through your presence.

 

[Coffs dragon]

Oh dear….another year of Jack Bird!
His nickname should be Penguin after a species of Bird that doesn’t fly.
Cookie is quicker as dummy half than our RH Centre.

 

[Auntie.Gerald]

if Birdy triggered an option as in club option it would be at that $400k pa max

Club

ie the club didnt trigger Jacks player option

Club Option $400k pa max ie might be $300k pa base and $3k per match ?
Player Option $550k pa

If I actually take a positive spin (which I havent with Jack for 18months) he does give us cover at 5/8 and centre to get through a season which is bloody hard.

If he doesnt get selected rest of 2024 or early on 2025 we can probably agree to part ways

So maybe not a big deal.................and would be good if we got a Talagi who maybe in and out of the side in 2025.........so bird covers if Talagi is not quite ready


rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr I hat trying to be positive about the above player and $ vs other options................which are no doubt seriously limited.

 

[Slippery Morris]

Cook will be good for the youngsters like HFinau (is that him from memory). Cook looks like the type of guy you want hanging around the youngsters. His value will be more what he brings off the field than on it imo. Liddle and Cook will work well together.

Jack Bird re-signing, wow. He would be best at 14. If a centre or half goes down he can cover for them if not , come on and give a backrower a rest. That is his true value to the team, a perfect utility player. Probably give him more years in the NRL.

 

[JohnnoMcJohnno]

Not feeling any joy. In 2025 we will have four players whose best position is hooker (Hunt, young Flanno, Liddle, Cook). We are potentially letting a 33 year old still playing good footy (JDB) to bring in a 32 year old not playing as well as he used to. Where is the progress? People are saying he will be good for the youngsters - what is this based on? It's just pure conjecture. He might well be more interested in prolonging his own career rather than helping the youngsters. And now people are talking about making him captain, when they only want him on the field for 40 minutes and as far as I can tell he's only captained one game for Souths.

A lot of straw-clutching going on. Cookie isn't going to change our clubs prospects one iota.

 

[Mojo]

if Birdy triggered an option as in club option it would be at that $400k pa max

Club

ie the club didnt trigger Jacks player option

Club Option $400k pa
Player Option $550k pa

If I actually take a positive spin (which I havent with Jack for 18months) he does give us cover at 5/8 and centre to get through a season which is bloody hard.

If he doesnt get selected rest of 2024 or early on 2025 we can probably agree to part ways

So maybe not a big deal.................and would be good if we got a Talagi who maybe in and out of the side in 2025.........so bird covers if Talagi is not quite ready


rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr I hat trying to be positive about the above player and $ vs other options................which are no doubt seriously limited.

either way its a lot of money for a shot duck.

 

[Auntie.Gerald]

Maybe a shot duck who makes 2 less mistakes per game then a newbie to NRL?

ie if we cant get anyone else better?

PS I feel you MOjo...............Birdy has been uninspiring for too long

 

[Auntie.Gerald]

Now that Brad Arthur has left Parra

would would be making the play for Cook 2025/26 with Lids supporting..............but in 2025 start to work on the Under9s NSW hooker highly rated ie Brad Arthurs son?

Matt Arthur

Matt Arthur of Newcastle Knights player profile including contract information, NRL news, stats and rumours.

www.zerotackle.com

or someone similar to come through and start playing a bench role in the NRL then 2027 FG ? ie 22yrs of age ish

 

[GC Dragon]

Breaking:

Souths veteran’s $1m switch to NRL rival confirmed

Souths veteran’s $1m switch to NRL rival confirmed

www.foxsports.com.au

Not yet on the Dragons website so suggest we wait a bit longer before yeahing or naying.

He will have played half a dozen games for us by the time they announce it .

 

[Dragon David]

He will have played half a dozen games for us by the time they announce it .

That would be right GC. Haha!

 

[Parko1310]

o Centres: We need that Val Holmes type centre (and Flanno said wer'e after one) while Buchanan spends 2yrs in NSW Cup... possibly we will keep Max Feagai as a backup but hes not a threat.. hes just a really solid fill-in. And yah Suli did say he prefers right side.. And then im not sure if Bird will be here or not. Ben Johnson seems to be in favour also, but I cant be sure about him either.

o Props: if JDB goes we definitely need 2.. mostly because Fifita hasnt stepped up to the mark, MMolo too.. im sure we didnt actually want.. I think it was just an emergency cover or it was to secure Frank... I would like to see more of the Couchmans games in 1st grade because there stats r rly good, but I just cant be sure if its off the back of the bigger forwards and they r able to run good lines with that footwork as a result... i.e. can they be part of the 1st grade prop rotation with noone to do the hard carries? Dunno.. its also 9 more months and a pre-season away, but we will get an idea this year.

Definitely need to put a broom through a bit more dead wood. No idea why we re-signed M Molo, not a good player at all. Head scratcher with how tight our top 30 already is for next year. Lawrie and probably Fifita need to be given the tap on the shoulder. Lawrie awful obviously, and Fifita just doesn't seem to be improving and is approaching mid 20s fast. Those 3 are just unnecessarily eating up spots in our top 30 that we desperately need

 

[FlickFlano]

Not feeling any joy. In 2025 we will have four players whose best position is hooker (Hunt, young Flanno, Liddle, Cook). We are potentially letting a 33 year old still playing good footy (JDB) to bring in a 32 year old not playing as well as he used to. Where is the progress? People are saying he will be good for the youngsters - what is this based on? It's just pure conjecture. He might well be more interested in prolonging his own career rather than helping the youngsters. And now people are talking about making him captain, when they only want him on the field for 40 minutes and as far as I can tell he's only captained one game for Souths.

A lot of straw-clutching going on. Cookie isn't going to change our clubs prospects one iota.

100% he will .. and the reason is this.

in the tigers game and when JMK played us we saw that when your main hooker doesnt play 80 minutes he is dymanic at the end of the game. The HIA for both Cook/JMK were huge in terms of the teams performance in the last quarter. Simple thing is simple - Liddle needs a break to be most effective.

Cook is not coming across to not play, we will have two hookers in our 17 each week so our DH work will be more consistant for the 80. That will improve us.

The puzzle is how to play with them both on the field. We will need to learn that part as i am sure it will happen at times during the season.

 

[saintmar]

For all you Flano supporters

 

[True_Believer]

Would Corey Horsburgh be acceptable to all????

Not going to happen. Have contacts close to family. He's been injured for the last couple of months and will be playing reserves this weekend to get a bit of game time. No issues from the club with him at all. Will stay with Raiders for this contract and possibly longer.

 

[Blood Shot Eyes]

Not feeling any joy. In 2025 we will have four players whose best position is hooker (Hunt, young Flanno, Liddle, Cook). We are potentially letting a 33 year old still playing good footy (JDB) to bring in a 32 year old not playing as well as he used to. Where is the progress? People are saying he will be good for the youngsters - what is this based on? It's just pure conjecture. He might well be more interested in prolonging his own career rather than helping the youngsters. And now people are talking about making him captain, when they only want him on the field for 40 minutes and as far as I can tell he's only captained one game for Souths.

A lot of straw-clutching going on. Cookie isn't going to change our clubs prospects one iota.

I agree re the appointment of Cook....maybe 3 or 4 years back but not now....as for being good for young blokes I can't see that as well.....they said that about Hunt as well but that hasn't worked......bit like when James Graham signed they said the forwards would benefit from his experience I didn't see that as well.....I agree that Lids cant play for 80 so where does he and Cook fit in....I can't see Cook sitting on the bench pulling splinters out of his arse waiting for Lids to get tired......as I stated weeks ago do you think Bennett would have seen him walk if he still had something to offer

 

[Auntie.Gerald]

for me it is all about getting our attacking ruck advantage line better and a true 4th play maker option when in the opposition red zone

I think Cook delivers that with skill but he is also a great character from all reports

 

[JohnnoMcJohnno]

100% he will .. and the reason is this.

in the tigers game and when JMK played us we saw that when your main hooker doesnt play 80 minutes he is dymanic at the end of the game. The HIA for both Cook/JMK were huge in terms of the teams performance in the last quarter. Simple thing is simple - Liddle needs a break to be most effective.

Cook is not coming across to not play, we will have two hookers in our 17 each week so our DH work will be more consistant for the 80. That will improve us.

The puzzle is how to play with them both on the field. We will need to learn that part as i am sure it will happen at times during the season.

I get that, it's exactly what we were doing at the start of the season. I'm guessing Flanno has lost faith in Mulheisen and Nu Brown because we have been playing with 4 forwards on the bench lately. Results are about the same either way. Look I hope you're right, but Liddle playing 80 minutes isn't the reason we've been winning or losing games. From where I sit it's a lot more to do with our line speed in defence, an uninspirational captain who demands all the ball, and the inability of our forwards to get fast play-the-balls. Cook won't fix any of those.