Damien Cook’s NSW State of Origin chances have received another boost, as he helped South Sydney to a comfortable 36-18 defeat of Newcastle.
With the Rabbitohs hanging onto the match at 22-12 on the back of a 94 per cent completion rate, Cook put the game beyond doubt midway through the second half when he broke free to run 30 metres and score.
“He understands the principles, that what I like about the way he gets out,” Blues assistant coach Danny Buderus said in Fox League commentary.
“He understands when to run … He always runs to the right (correct) side.”
Cook couldn’t have chosen a better moment than on Friday night at McDonald Jones Stadium.
While Blues coach Brad Fittler may not have been in attendance, his two advisors in Buderus and Greg Alexander were.
Buderus too knows the hooking role better than anyone, having played 21 games in the No.9 for NSW.
26-year-old Cook topped 90 metres for the ninth consecutive time this year to maintain his status as easily the best running hooker of the competition.
Fittler has already indicated he could carry a second hooker on the bench, meaning he and chief rival Cameron McInnes are both a chance of selection.
Five-eighth Cody Walker turned in an emotional display just two days after the death of his mother Lou.
He put Alex Johnston away in Souths’ first set for a trailing Robert Jennings to score, before he took their lead to 12-0 moments later when he barged over himself.
It gave Souths a lead they’d never relinquish, as his halves partner Adam Reynolds also put young winger Campbell Graham over in the first half.
The Knights scored twice just before the break to go to the sheds at 16-12, and they should have drawn level early in the second through a sensational Ponga cut-out ball before Ken Sio had the ball knocked out of his hands over the line by Angus Crichton.
Sio’s pain was compounded when in the ensuing set he dropped a Reynolds cross-field kick and former Knight Dane Gagai was on the spot to score.