South Sydney hooker Damien Cook ticks off his goals

SOUTH Sydney star Damien Cook started pre-season with five goals. He checks the list on his phone regularly. On the eve of the NRL finals, the NSW Blues rake has achieved all but one.

Damien Cook is crucial to Souths’ premiership hopes. (Phil Hillyard)

• Matty Johns’ finals analysis
• Nothing but the best for Bunny boy Burgess

DAMIEN Cook gets out his phone and what seems like routine now he ticks off his goals that he set before a ball was kicked. He started pre-season with five of them and the NSW rake has achieved all but one.

While this year has been a breakthrough year for Cook some of those goals have lingered in his phone for some time.

Cook is central to the Rabbitohs’ success. (Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)

MORE NEWS

NRL hits Bulldogs with $250k Mad Monday fine

“I’ve had some of the same goals for the last couple of years but they weren’t at the right time but I set them to set high standards,” Cook said.

“They are in my phone. I don’t look at it all the time but if I get one, I get in there and tick it off.”

Cook has ticked many boxes already. His first was setting new benchmarks at pre-season. Tick.

The next was beating Robbie Farah for a starting hooking role in round one. Tick.

The third goal was playing consistent footy. Tick.

He achieved his fourth goal when he made his Origin debut earlier this year.

Now there is just one to tick off.

An Origin debut — and triumph. That’s not bad. (AAP Image/Hamish Blair)

“Winning the premiership is on there,” Cook said. “As a team we had a goal at the start of the year to be top four. You never know what people were thinking when they came up with that goal. But we knew we had the style of players here to do the job. It’s good we’ve done that.

“(Coach Anthony Seibold) had a meeting early in the pre-season where we talked about where we wanted to go this year with all the players and staff.

“He also put it on the senior players to set our own goals and the standards he wanted us to live by and goals we wanted to reach this year. It’s something I’ve done.

“I’ve been lucky to tick a couple off.”

If Cook was to have amended his goals at the halfway point of the season he would have included a Kangaroos jersey.

He gets another chance to impress for the spot when he lines up against Cameron Smith in Melbourne after the long-term Kangaroos captain announced his retirement from representative football.

The Rabbitohs start the match having returned to form with a last win against the Tigers. Cook said it was a timely reminder for the team.

LISTEN: Nick Campton and Tim Williams preview each of the games in the lead up to the first week of the NRL finals and continue their critically-acclaimed season reviews.

You can download the League Central podcast on iTunes.

“It was a reminder to us of our style of play and that our game plan works for us,” Cook said. “We’ll get a lot of belief out of that. We had a couple of tough games leading into those ones. Against Canberra and Roosters we tried to make things happen that weren’t there.

“We have to do what works for us. No matter what — we have to stick at it.”

Get 3 months free Sport HD + Entertainment on a 12 month plan and watch every game of every round of the 2018 NRL Telstra Premiership on FOX SPORTS. T & Cs apply. SIGN UP NOW >

Originally published as South Sydney hooker Damien Cook ticks off his goals