PAUL COOKE “I think the All Stars concept is a good
Cooke’s move from Hull to Hull KR caused a local media earthquake
thing for England. If you’re going to play someone it might as well be a tough competitive game as opposed to the French game which has been won by 50 for the last few years. I think Clint Newton makes a good point that it should be the best players, not just two from each club. If we’re going to do it let’s play the best players and get it on because its going to benefit the internationals. “I think we will end up copying the
Australians eventually with two referees and I think that would be good for spectators. For me, the rucks have become more of a wrestle in the game when what we want to see are exciting players like Danny McGuire, Rob Burrow and Kyle Eastmond on the attack. I know it’s difficult on the defence but it’s more spectator friendly if the rucks are cleaned up. “Certain players are destined to end
someone’s career if they keep wrestling players the way they do on the floor putting players joints under undue pressure. It’s not just six months on the sidelines if a player doesn’t come back from a shoulder reconstruction, his career has gone and that would be criminal if we were to lose a young star player early in his career because of the wrestle. “The mechanics of the game will change
and how their decisions on the field are being made and commenting on it, so it’s a different side to look at the game from and it’s interesting for me and one that I’m very much enjoying.
“Something else I am doing is getting
involved with kids in schools, passing advice on to kids about the rights and wrongs of, not just rugby, but life in general. The A Level I did at the beginning of my career is standing me in good stead for what I want to do and achieve now as a 30-year-old. “I think the biggest tool in getting my
point across is experience. It’s about what you have been through and how/why you dealt with things in the way you did. You can’t buy experience, you have to live your life to get it. There are many comments about now, both positive and negative from fans of KR and FC on message boards and the rest of it saying things like ‘I wouldn’t want him teaching my son’ and ‘I wouldn’t want him anywhere near my kids,’ but in my eyes I would sooner have my child speak to someone about life experiences and the issues they have been through than someone who is whiter than white, with the ‘do as I say’ mentality. “The side of it from me is that I can pass on advice to people and when they say, ‘well how do you know?’ I can say ‘because I did it’, that’s how I know. ‘You’re going to self destruct because I did it.’ For me that’s something I am passionate about, helping people who are not only in high-pressure situations like I was, but other troubled kids and the kids who just want to learn through sport what can be achieved.” With the new season underway, I asked Paul for his thoughts on the Magic Weekend
and the game in general, particularly the new interpretation of what a ruck should look like. In the opening rounds the emphasis has been on initial contact and whether the defending team was dominant in that contact, which would result in them having a little more time in the tackle. Poor contact meant the defenders didn’t have that right and thus the ruck was super quick.
On the outside looking in
For me personally I think it’s a massive and welcome improvement. It forces the defence to make higher quality initial tackles, returning to authentic techniques as opposed to the kabaddi/cage-fight techniques that where sneaking in. In attack, we all get to play and see more attacking rugby which is great all round. A change can quite often manifest itself in the type of players playing too and Paul recalled how Malcolm Reilly prophesied the future development of players. “As a player I don’t think the Magic
Weekend is a great concept. It’s one extra game that the top athletes and elite professionals could do without, but I do understand that the financial implications of not having it outweigh the negatives of having it. For the RFL it’s a success, I’m not so sure it is for the players particularly when you mount up the injury list on a greasy pitch. You’ve got Matt King out for long periods now, Lee Briers slipped over and was knocked unconscious as well as others with groin and hamstring injuries having played on such a slippery pitch who are now on the sidelines for weeks or months. As a player I didn’t particularly like it, but as a spectator or an RFL official they want it to be played.
and I predict that we will go to ten interchanges I would have thought, like the Australians, which again will make it more attacking friendly because players will become more tired and there will be less interchanges. I remember reading Malcolm Reilly’s book when I was a kid and he said Rugby League is going the way where you will have a 96kg player playing in the front row as quick and conditioned as a winger or centre. That’s the way it is going, super fit, super strong athletes. I might just be getting out at the right time!”
Get happy
Paul mentioned the word “baptism” several times, reflecting the imagery of what a Christian baptism essentially means: cleansing oneself from the ways of an old life and moving into a new one, the parallels are very similar. What interests me is that the very thing that most people spend their lives chasing, such as the limelight and money, Paul is essentially at his happiest now that has all passed. I think Paul’s career and the experiences he has had makes him extremely valuable in the perpetual education and development of our game. His self awareness, empathy and passion for helping others makes him invaluable. “I feel that as I reflect on my career and
my life and where I am at now, this is where I want to be at. As stupid as this might seem, I feel warranted in where I am and feel I deserve to be where I am and I am happy now, sat here not playing Rugby League and not earning the money I have earned over the last ten years. I feel happy within myself. It’s a funny kind of feeling. For ten years I did everything around Rugby League and did my best to throw it all away, and now I’m just happy and relaxed with where I’m at and enjoying my life, still loving the game, just from a different side.”
RUGBY LEAGUE WORLD - APRIL 2011 23
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