'I wasn’t that impressed': How Cooper Cronk turned into a superstar
By Ryan Hoffman
When I first laid eyes on Cooper, I wasn’t that impressed. It was Storm’s 2003 pre-season. He was at the back of the runs; he wasn’t in the fit group. He enjoyed going out a bit too much. People might find that hard to believe given the professional he became. But we all have a journey; it all starts somewhere.
Coops came down to Melbourne with a bunch of blokes from Norths Devils in Brisbane. There were two full-time spots left and they went to Billy Slater and Dallas Johnson. Cooper got shipped back to Brisbane. It was a wake-up call for him. He saw his two mates become professional footballers. He went back up to Brisbane to work as a plumber.
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I had another of the full-time spots but still played a bit with him in reserve grade in 2003. He had a really good year, got his act together. By the end of ’03 he got asked to come down full time. By the start of the 2004 pre-season he’d really changed his attitude. Seeing Dallas and Billy achieve it, it turned him around. He worked hard at training, stopped enjoying the party life. He knew when to train, when to enjoy yourself. Though not always…
Our first game together for Brisbane Norths was in Townsville. We had a good hard game then enjoyed the Townsville night life. Next day Cooper wasn’t on the team bus. We turned up to the airport and there he was, still in his going-out gear, straight from his night out. Bit different to the professional bloke he is now.
Again, it shows everyone has a past. Everyone has a journey and things they went through. It shows younger players, whatever you turn up like, it doesn’t mean you can’t mould yourself into something else. Cooper did exactly that. He went from that young bloke to one of the most professional players the game’s ever seen.
He was never really a halfback. He’d play in the halves at Norths Devils but early on at the Storm they weren’t sure how to use him. Matty Orford had the No.7 jumper, Scott Hill was five-eighth. Cooper would play in the centres, at fullback. He played a bit of hooker. He played in the back row! At lock, on an edge. We were just trying to fit him in. And that carried through into 2005 and he was Jack of all trades, master of none.
In 2006 Matty Orford moved on. And we couldn’t find a new halfback from outside. Not one we could afford anyway. Craig Bellamy put it on Cooper – how would you like to become a halfback? He lived with Matty Johns in Sydney for a month or so. And it was amazing how he turned himself into a halfback. It’s a singular skill – all the passing, kicking, game awareness. And it didn’t come naturally to him. But through repetition he became one.
You look at the amazing kicks and passes he rips off during a game, and it’s nothing we haven’t seen at training, time and time again. It was never a surprise. He wouldn’t do something in a game if he hadn’t done it a thousand times at training. It’s how he became so effective. His kicking and passing was always on the money. So precise.