Damien Cook puts his hand up to lead Rabbitohs in new era
It is a brave man who puts his hand up to follow in the footsteps of Greg Inglis, Sam Burgess, Clive Churchill, John Sattler and Bob McCarthy. But Damien Cook is ready to lead the Rabbitohs.
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He could become South Sydney’s Captain Cook.
Rabbitohs star Damien Cook has become the first player to publicly put his hand up to be named South Sydney’s new captain. And Cook’s nomination was immediately supported by NSW and Australian teammate, Cameron Murray.
Souths has a long and proud list of captains including Greg Inglis, Sam Burgess, Clive Churchill, John Sattler and Bob McCarthy.
With leaders John Sutton, Inglis and Burgess having retired in the past year, Souths coach Wayne Bennett needs a new skipper – and it will be either Cook, Cody Walker or Adam Reynolds.
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Cook, who modelled next year’s NSW’s jumpers on Tuesday, has become one of the finest dummy-half players of the modern era, Reynolds has consistently played to an elite level while Walker took over as leader when Burgess was injured last season.
Asked by The Daily Telegraph if South Sydney’s coveted captaincy interested him, Cook said: “Of course it does. I don’t think many players would knock back captaining their club.
“If Wayne asked me to be captain, you wouldn’t knock it back. Souths is a club with a lot of history and has had some great captains and probably one of the best leaders in the game before us, Sam Burgess.
“The person that comes in has to be the leader that they are and not try and be any of those other leaders in the past.
“Cody stepped in last year for Sam and then you’ve got ‘Reyno”, he’s been there a long time and is a halfback. He’s running the show and would make a great captain as well. Whoever is named will have the support of the other two in the group.
“It would almost be a job we do together. It would just be a person that has the ‘c’ next to his name would lead the team out.”
Murray – himself a future Souths skipper – was quick to suggest Cook would be an ideal leader at Redfern.
“’Cooky’ is a more than worthy candidate to put his hand up and lead from the front,” Murray said. “That comes on the back of the honours and his resume over the last couple of years.
“He has established himself as one of the premier hookers that Souths have seen over the modern era. We have another strong leader in Cody and also Adam Reynolds, he was part of that premiership-winning side and knows what it takes to be successful.”
Cook and Murray admitted the atmosphere and environment around Redfern would change without Sutton, Burgess and brother, George Burgess.
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“It is going to be a different vibe,” Cook said. “We knew we were losing Greg and ‘Sutto’ so it’s almost like let’s just rip the band aid off and let Sam go now as well and we’ll start again.
“Speaking to the leadership group, we have to and probably want to (go to another level) now those guys have gone. We have lost half our leadership group.
“It’s now our time to step up, make sure we lead the way and maintain the good culture we have here. We have a young squad but those boys have already gained a lot of experience over the past two years. We’re in a good position – I think we will be fine.”
Murray added: “Of course it would be different. It would be hard not to miss the calibre of players that have left.”