THREE TIMES I THOUGHT IT WAS OVER
Damien Cook - Contributor
There were three times when I thought my NRL hopes were gone.
The first came after my second season playing for the Panthers in the NYC.
Penrith didn’t want to re-sign me at the end of 2011 because I was no longer eligible for the under-20s. They obviously didn’t consider me a chance for first grade.
There was nothing else doing for me, so I went back to my old junior club, Helensburgh Tigers.
The NRL seemed a long way off. I couldn’t see how I was going to break in.
Then the Illawarra Cutters put a team in the NSW Cup with Paul McGregor coaching. I was brought into a squad of about 50 players covering that team and the first-grade side for St George Illawarra.
I had new hope, but my time at the Dragons turned out to be a real rollercoaster ride. After the first trial, I was told I wouldn’t be needed for the first-grade squad. They considered me their third or fourth-choice hooker.
I didn’t get picked for the first round with the Cutters either and played a trial for Helensburgh instead. But then I made the Cutters side for round two and played the rest of the year there.
It was a bit of a funny role: I’d start on the wing and then go to hooker to give the starter a rest, before going back to the wing to finish the game.
I got a one-year deal with the Dragons for 2013 and made my first-grade debut off the bench in round six. I played another game off the bench in round 10. But that was it.
After those two games, the Dragons told me they weren’t going to re-sign me for 2014.
I went back to the Cutters for the rest of the season and Mary asked me to play fullback because they had a few injuries. That was one of my old positions as a kid. I was fine with that. Hooker didn’t seem to be working for me and I went out and played some good footy at fullback. There was no pressure. I knew I wasn’t getting re-signed, so I just tried to enjoy myself.
But the year was running out, I’d turned 23 and there was nothing coming my way from other clubs.
That was the second time I thought I wasn’t going to make it.
THE BIG BREAK
Footy is a game where, if you show you want something badly enough and you’re committed to putting in the hard work, sometimes people are looking out for you even when you don’t know it’s happening.
Shane Millard was on the coaching staff at the Dragons and, although he has never admitted it, I’m sure he played a major role in getting me to the Bulldogs in 2014. Shane, or Billy as we know him, is great mates with Jim Dymock, who was Des Hasler’s assistant coach at Canterbury at the time.
You hear things in footy and you know how the game works, and I believe Billy called Jimmy and put in a good word for me and things developed from there.
Billy knows I’m grateful for what he’s done for me. He’s been a big part of my career.
I actually went to the Bulldogs hoping to get a crack at fullback, but Des said, ‘We’ll start off training you at hooker and see what happens’.
Michael Ennis was still there at the time and I only got two first-grade games in my first year – one as a starter and the other off the bench. And even though Ennis was leaving at the end of the season, the Bulldogs were bringing Michael Lichaa from Cronulla for 2015.
I got stuck behind Lichaa. Des would always say I was going well in NSW Cup and that I’d be next in if there was an injury, but you don’t wish that on anyone.
It was getting towards the end of the season and I hadn’t played any first grade. Canterbury hadn’t made an offer to re-sign me and no other club had come in.
Again, for the third time, I thought it was all over for me.
How many times can you keep coming back from the edge? After 23 rounds of the 2015 season, I had played a total of four first-grade games for two clubs in three seasons.
I was 24 years old by this time. The older you get, the harder it is to keep snaring deals.
Then Lichaa got a season-ending injury. It was unfortunate for him, particularly with the team heading for the finals, but that’s the way it goes in footy sometimes.
Someone had to play in his place and it was me. It turned out to be the biggest break I’ve had in footy.
I came in as starting hooker for round 24 against the Rabbitohs and had a great game, scoring our first try and setting up another in a 32-18 win.
I scored a try in each of our wins in the last two rounds as well. We beat the Dragons in the first week of the finals and then got eliminated by the Roosters.
Souths made me an offer. There was an opening there with Issac Luke leaving for the Warriors. Then, the Bulldogs made me an offer to stay. Nothing had happened before this.
I met with Madge Maguire at the Rabbitohs. I’d watched players like John Sutton, Sam Burgess and Greg Inglis since I was a teenager and admired them. Now I had the chance to play alongside them. That was enough for me. I signed for Souths and I haven’t looked back since.
It’s amazing how things happen sometimes. I always believed I was good enough, but I wasn’t getting the chance to prove it. That five-game stint turned my career around.
Read more at
https://www.playersvoice.com.au/damien-cook-three-times-thought-was-over/#6Mw9j3cuhYm04VJk.99
