NRL: Souths hooker Damien Cook gets a taste for Origin

Damien Cook finally appeared and agreed to speak about the unspeakable truth — he’s so close to Origin he can taste it.

Damien Cook breaks a tackle from St George Illawarra’s Tyson Frizell yesterday. Picture: Getty Images.

Damien Cook twirled his moustache, polished his white shoes, sidestepped pre-match media duties to avoid being spooked by speculative talk about representative selection, rolled on to ANZ Stadium for his head-to-head battle with Cameron McIness for the NSW No 9 jersey, scooted out of dummy-half with the honours, earned the endorsement of Greg Inglis and finally addressed this coveted thing at his fingertips — a State of Origin jumper.

Milling about the Rabbitohs’ change room yesterday were children, mothers, fathers, sisters and brothers of players. Russell Crowe was getting around with a grey beard and a white leather jacket with Sons of Glory printed on it. Cody Walker was getting back-slaps and support ahead of his mother’s funeral, which will be attended by the entire Souths’ squad today in Nowra. Cook finally appeared and agreed to speak about the unspeakable truth — he’s so close to Origin he can taste it. He was not shy about it; nor was he thumping his chest.

“I’m trying to not read too much into it. I really am,” Cook told The Australian. “I’ll be honest with you — sometimes that can be hard. But I feel like I’m handling it pretty well. I’m not trying to avoid it but I am trying to keep it in the background and just worry about South Sydney. I just want to play good footy.

“This was a big game and I had to focus on nothing but this. We got the job done and I think we’re getting the results we deserve.”

Cook or McInness? If you’re only as good as your last start, it’s Cook. “I’ve got a good bunch of boys at training, and in my home life who keep me grounded,” Cook said. “It did start creeping up into my mind a couple of weeks ago when the Origin talk sort of started. Look, if things like Origin are going to happen, they’re going to happen off the back of playing well for your club. I’ve got guys like Greg (Inglis) and Dane (Gagai) who have played at that level. They’ve spoken to me about those things. Club footy is the thing I’m focusing on, but yes, Origin would be a dream come true.”

Cook added: “It’s already a dream come true to play every week for South Sydney. I started the year wanting to be the starting hooker but I’m not going to say Origin hasn’t been a goal of mine. I set goals every year. To play every game this year for Souths is the obvious goal. Origin is the other. I’ve got a coach and team who trusts me to play my style of footy. If I see opportunities they tell me to take them. I go into a game with a pretty narrow focus. If there’s an opportunity, I’m encouraged to take it.”

Cook said he’s heard nothing from Blues coach Brad Fitter about being in the hunt. “No feedback at all,” he said. “Maybe they’re just letting everyone play and concentrate on their clubs. It’s probably been a good thing. It’s just allowed me to worry about the job I have to do for Souths.”

Yesterday’s crowd was small at 13,062. When Sydney’s mothers woke from their beauty sleeps at the crack of 10am yesterday, knocked off their ham-and-cheese toasted sandwiches, polished off their cups of coffee in bed, read their cards, opened their presents, thanked their little darlings and were asked how they would like to spend the rest of their day, clearly the majority of them failed to reply: “Souths versus Saints!”

Traditional rivals ran out for the NRL match of the round at 2pm. Both sides held lofty positions on the NRL ladder (first and fifth), they had southerly busters of momentum in their sails after recent wins’, they had a dozen State of Origin contenders locked in head-to-head auditions, but when you looked around ANZ Stadium when the pigskin was launched for kick-off and thought, where is everyone?

A fair few were at the netball, as it turned out. You’ve seen worse attendances at Homebush but for a Sunday afternoon, all-Sydney blockbuster between traditional rivals, it seemed bizarrely poor. And it made no sense because the car parks at Homebush were full. The Swifts and Giants were playing their Super Netball derby at neighbouring Qudos Bank Arena in front of 8086. Perhaps next time there’s a clash, they could switch venues. The NRL might be able to cobble together enough folks to fill the 18,000-seat Qudos Bank Arena. The netball might have more chance of filling the big room at the Olympic stadium if people knew more seats were available.

Will Cook be back here for Origin? “You guys see what he does in 80 minutes,” Inglis said. “We see him working his backside off. He just wants to improve. He wants to learn. That’s the kind of character he is. We see what he does on the training park and how he wants to do his best for South Sydney. If he gets picked, credit to him.” Asked if Cook could handle Origin, Inglis replied: “No doubt.”