Newcastle Knights debutante Cory Denniss shines against Raiders with two-try haul

JEREMY Smith didn’t have a clue who the kid was. And even after his first training session in the top grade, Jarrod Mullen knew him only as Cory. Well, everyone knows Cory Denniss now.

JEREMY Smith didn’t have a clue who the kid was.

And even after his first training session in the top grade, Jarrod Mullen knew him only as Cory.

“Yeah, Cory. But I couldn’t tell you his last name,” Mullen said early last week when asked about the identity of the mystery kid filling in on the wing.

Knights debutante Cory Denniss scores a try against the Raiders.

Well, everyone knows him now.

For in the space of 90 minutes, Cory Denniss, the teenager plucked from obscurity by coach Nathan Brown to play on the wing against the Canberra Raiders after just two games in the Holden Cup, became a household name among Newcastle Knights fans.

Two tries on debut from the trainee telecommunications electrician in a gutsy come-from-behind draw against the Raiders will do that for you.

Understandably, 18 year old Denniss was still living and breathing the dream after the game, almost a decade after he first ran out onto Hunter Stadium as a nine year old playing for the Swansea Swans at halftime in a Knights game.

“I’m relieved, I’m happy, stoked. I can’t believe I got to debut in front of the home fans, my family and friends and to score two tries – yeah, unbelievable feeling,” he said.

“Leading up to it, I was nervous, excited. But once I ran out, it was just another game of footy and I just had to focus on my job.”

Cory Denniss is mobbed by teammates after scoring a try.

Denniss said Brown’s decision to play him was as big a shock to him as it was to his teammates, most of whom he had never met.

“I got called into training on the Tuesday and came back in on the Wednesday and we did a bit of ball-work,” Denniss said.

“He (Brown) just came up to me and said you are going to be playing this weekend and that moment, I just couldn’t believe it.

Many of Cory Denniss’ teammates didn’t even know his last name.

“I was just stoked to have a few days off work, (get) a free feed, and train with NRL. But to get the call-up was unbelievable.”

And does he think he will hold his spot for the side’s next game against the Warriors in Auckland on Easter Monday?

“Whatever happens next week happens. If I have to go back to work next week, I’m just as happy doing that as if I have to go back to NRL training,” he said.

Originally published as Newcastle Knights debutante Cory Denniss shines against Raiders with two-try haul