Queensland Origin coach Kevin Walters is banking on Cooper Cronk to play on in 2018

KEVIN Walters is counting on Cooper Cronk to play next season as the Maroons scrumbase partnership threatens to tear apart.

MAROONS coach Kevin Walters has appealed for Cooper Cronk to shun a code defection to rugby union to prevent Queensland’s Origin scrumbase being torn apart.

Walters is adamant Cronk will play on next season and is banking on him to spearhead the Maroons when his halves partner, Johnathan Thurston, retires from representative football after this year’s World Cup.

Cronk will be a key figure for Melbourne in tomorrow night’s double-header clash against the Titans at Suncorp Stadium, but how long he remains in rugby league is uncertain.

As revealed by The Courier-Mail, six NRL clubs, including Newcastle, are targeting Cronk, while the Maroons ace has also been linked with rugby’s NSW Waratahs.

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The Waratahs insist they are not chasing Cronk, but are willing to talk to the Storm ace if he is interested in a career finale in rugby when he moves to Sydney next season to be closer to fiancee Tara Rushton.

The loss of Cronk, by way of retirement or a code switch to rugby union, would be a crushing blow for the Maroons.

Walters is planning for Cronk to steer Queensland through the post-Thurston era and hopes the Dally M Medallist remains in the NRL next season.

“He would go well in rugby but I can’t see him swapping codes,” Walters said.

“I think you’ll find he will play with another NRL club next year or not at all.

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“He is one of the great playmakers of the modern era so I can understand if rugby would be keen on him, but I’d certainly love him on deck with us (Queensland) next season.”

Intensely private, Cronk, who turns 34 in December, is tight-lipped about his future beyond this season.

The majority of Sydney clubs have recently forked out millions to secure playmakers for 2018. Canterbury, the club favoured to sign Cronk, are now out of the race after striking a three-year deal on Wednesday with Kiwi Test pivot Kieran Foran.

If Cronk plays on, his next move will not be motivated solely by money. That gives the ARU a legitimate chance to snare Cronk, who could earn around $500,000 if he signed with the Waratahs with a view to playing at the 2019 Rugby World Cup.

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Walters admits he is so confident about Cronk remaining in the NRL he doesn’t feel the need to fast-track a succession plan for his Maroons scrumbase.

“Cooper, as far as I know, will be playing on next year (in rugby league),” Walters said.

“It’s important to have a succession plan but what’s most important is right now and Cooper has been a mainstay of the side for several years.

“The idea of our emerging Origin program is to introduce guys to our culture and Cooper and Johnno (Thurston) are a big part of that.”

Panthers supremo and former NSW Origin coach Phil Gould believes Cronk will retire after his Storm commitments.

“It would be an absolute shame if he went to rugby,” Gould said in his Channel Nine column. “I’m not so sure he will play (next year). If I was asked for advice on it and I’m not, I would say, ‘You don’t have to play on, you’ve got no reason to play. You’ve had a wonderful career, why do that?’”