Roosters halfback Cooper Cronk set to test injured left shoulder in Allianz Stadium Captain’s Run
COOPER Cronk will walk into Roosters HQ on Saturday morning and say what a cracking day it is. Always does. Every day.
NRL
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COOPER Cronk will walk into Roosters HQ on Saturday morning and say what a cracking day it is.
Always does. Every day.
And before every session.
But how else do you reckon a footballer with such limited ability has made himself worth $1 million?
Indeed, if Cronk is to play in the 2018 NRL Grand Final, it will have as much to do with healing and hyperbaric chambers as his incredible — and at times wacky — ability to will things into being.
It’s why nobody at Roosters HQ can ever recall him complaining of a bad day.
Which isn’t to say the megastar No.7 doesn’t have them.
He does.
Just refuses to concede it.
Which is why he will enter the club’s Moore Park headquarters on Saturday morning and, with kit bag by his side, suit up for the most hyped Captain’s Run in living memory.
Apart from running with the team on Allianz Stadium — the Roosters have brushed a Homebush practice to instead train behind locked gates — Cronk will also push his shoulder through a series of tests which could include tackling all 113 kilos of Roosters prop Dylan Napa.
And as for how good Cronk’s left rotator cuff will go?
Nobody knows. Unlikely even him.
Which still, and wonderfully, hasn’t stopped almost everyone from having a crack at predicting what will happen to the fella who was spotted this week at a Darlinghurst cryotherapy joint.
Cronk is in. Cronk is out.
Cronk is longer odds than cheap grand final day beers.
All of which matters nought to the Roosters No. 7, who back in April told us of pressure: “You can’t feel pressure. Can’t see or touch it, either. So is it even real?”
And sure, you could write off such a mindset as the sporting equivalent of a dream catcher.
At least were it not for the fact that in 15 years since arriving as a player of limited potential, Cronk has appeared in 14 NRL finals series, seven deciders, 22 Origins for Queensland and 38 Tests for Australia.
On Monday, Cronk told journalists they were on a “need to know basis” regarding his injury.
A line some interpreted as arrogant. Others, simply the latest addition to sinews intertwining and villages burning.
Yet the truth could be much simpler: Cronk won’t talk about the injury because it’s bad, and Psychology 101 says you don’t do it that way.
No, instead, you talk about your work ethic. Your ability to endure.
Understanding in this area, he is already rugby league’s heavyweight champ.
A fella whose entire success has been built around focusing on all the little things a man can control.
Which is why the Roosters bought him, too.
Aware that while they had no problem getting to within one game of a grand final, Cronk could win the Roosters a title.
And it’s because the bigger the game, the better he plays.
In Cronk, you have a leader who refuses to be weighed down by expectation. Or pressure.
Or even a rotator cuff that may be completely shot.
Which is why he’ll walk into Allianz Stadium sometime this morning and, with all of League Land holding its breath, remark about what a great day it is.
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