Cooper Cronk says Roosters rookie Kyle Flanagan needs time and support to fulfil his potential
Eleven NRL games is too early to be piling expectation on a rookie halfback – but if it ever gets too much for Kyle Flanagan, the Roosters rising star knows Cooper Cronk has his back.
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Cooper Cronk reckons Kyle Flanagan is way ahead of where he was as an 11 game halfback – and is determined to ease the burden on the heir of Bondi Junction.
Flanagan enters the Sydney Roosters blockbuster against the South Sydney Rabbitohs on Friday night as arguably the most under pressure player in the NRL.
Following a legend out to bat is never easy at the best of times, especially not when the Roosters will restart their march for a third straight premiership with little margin for error at a precarious 0-2.
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COVID-19 has prevented the Roosters from being able to pay Cronk to continue in a mentoring role in the year following his retirement, but the premiership-winning general has made it his mission to guide Flanagan for free.
Flanagan has managed to impress perhaps the most meticulous trainer the NRL has ever seen with the work ethic he has shown during the COVID-19 lockdown and determination to get the Roosters back on course.
“I try to work closely with him, just working from afar over the phone, talking to him at different stages,” Cronk told The Daily Telegraph.
“I’m always there if he needs a hand to get through.
“Does the pause button (in the season) help? Yeah, hopefully it does because for him, he’s a tremendous kid and he works very hard.
“If Trent Robinson told him to do 100 reps on his passing he would go do 200 reps. He’s that type of guy that just works hard and he’s worked his butt off in the shutdown period.
“In terms of Kyle’s performance, he’s played (11 games). So he’s streaks ahead of where I was after 11 games put it that way.”
LISTEN! Adam Mobbs, Phil Rothfield and Michael Carayannis are back with The Daily Telegraph NRL Podcast to talk through the Bronson Xerri positive drug test drama, the Parramatta Eels pressure cooker, your top eight picks … and what are we looking forward to most this season!
Cronk wants Flanagan to know he has his back regardless of whether or not he’s employed by the Roosters.
“I like using my experiences to help them achieve some pretty cool things that I was fortunate enough to achieve,” he said.
“Whether I’m officially involved or not, I still see my role being someone who you can pick up the phone to and call. Because I look back at my career and had a lot of people help me.”
Despite the fact it’s 21-year-old Flanagan who enters the cauldron under the gun, Cronk says in his mind elder statesman Luke Keary will take on the onus at five-eighth to lift.
Cronk says their combination needs work and won’t become complete overnight, but believes Keary will the challenge on as his primary responsibility.
“The combination of him and Keary needs some hands on, face-to-face time action at training. There’s no doubt Luke will take more of a leadership role and a bit more of an onus on that developing combination,” said Cronk, who is not allowed face-to-face contact with the Roosters players under the NRL’s strict biosecurity rules.
“But as you saw in the first two rounds there were some question marks how that combination is working. But don’t get rattled by it because it worked four weeks prior to that in the World Club Challenge where Keary stood up, Kyle found his position and they flowed and moved together.
“We expect that to occur. They won’t be zero to a 100 come round three, but I know the way they work and how intense they go about things.”
Meanwhile, Roosters coach Trent Robinson has addressed the Bronson Xerri drug scandal with Flanagan, who is the fallen Cronulla star’s best mate.
Flanagan and Xerri share one of the tightest bonds in the NRL from their time coming through the Sharks juniors. They trained together during the CORONA-19 lockdown and there’s been speculation Xerri was on the Roosters’ shopping list.
Robinson believes Flanagan is in a good head space for the Rabbitohs despite the plight of his closest friend.
“Look we had a brief chat but we’ve just got on with preparing for our game,” said Robinson on Thursday morning.
“Yeah he’s ready to go. He’s trained well. He’s prepared well. The focus for him and for us is preparing to play for the first game in a long time.”
HOW SHARKS WILL REPLACE XERRI
Under-siege Cronulla have thrown ex-South Sydney teen superstar Siosifa Talakai a lifeline as they look to bolster their depleted roster.
The Sharks headed into this season with an abundance of outside backs. The summer headlines surrounding the Sharks was which big name player was going to miss out on a starting spot in round one.
Injuries to Josh Dugan and Bronson Xerri saved coach John Morris from having to make any firm decisions heading into their opening round match against the Rabbitohs. How Morris would love that selection headache now.
He reluctantly granted Josh Morris his wish to join the Sydney Roosters after round two with the coach knowing how important the veteran centre was to the side. That goodwill has proven costly.
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The Sharks have gone from having the deepest outside back depth of any club, to now being one injury or suspension away from crisis point.
Matt Moylan’s body has proven unreliable while Dugan has struggled for fitness and motivation at times this pre-season. Morris is a huge fan of wingers Sione Katoa and Ronaldo Mulitalo and was reluctant to have one make-way for Dugan’s inclusion. Now the Sharks need Dugan to recapture the form which saw him rise to become a representative centre.
Morris was also tried desperately to retain utility Kurt Capewell last year but couldn’t find the funds to do so.
Talakai, 23, played the last of his 11 top grade games at the Rabbitohs in 2017. He was earmarked as a representative player when he made his top grade debut at just 19. Talakai, who now spends most of his time in the back-row, was rewarded with an NRL contract just last week after stints with Penrith and Newtown.
Originally published as Cooper Cronk says Roosters rookie Kyle Flanagan needs time and support to fulfil his potential
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