BY DAN

Adam Cook is back in town.

You may remember him from the grand old days of the Baby Raiders, the depth players that were such a crucial part of the good guys muddling through 2020 and the COVID period. He’s spent the proceeding years playing in the Queensland Rugby League for the Mackay Cutters, (ostensibly as part of the Cowboys system but it’s sorta Cowboys adjacent because of how the NRL side manages it’s NRL talent). He’s come back to the Raiders on a train-and-trial deal.

The deal was first reported by the Canberra Times and while it’s not earth shattering it makes sense. From what we can tell Cook is back at the club to provide depth in the halves, a situation created by the off-season departures of Matt Frawley and Brad Schneider, the sad passing of Troy Dargan and the fact that Ethan Sanders can’t (or won’t, I guess we’ll see) join the club until after round six. The deal itself reportedly only runs through the trials, but it wouldn’t surprise us if it continues until a deal for Sanders is settled (or not).

While he was a fullback when he was last at the Raiders, he’s spent his time in Mackay playing in the halves, mostly as a starting six. While I rarely spend my time watching Queensland rugby league, the stats tell us he engages the line plenty (4th in the league), creates plenty (20 try assists, 6th in the comp in try assists, 19th in line-break assists) and averaged 200 plus metres kicking a game. He touched the ball more than any Cutters player other than the starting rake. In short, a dominant half. It’s a pity it was for the worst attack in the competition. He always played a more creative fullback (and occasional half) during his previous stay in Canberra. It’s no surprise he’s made a front-line transition over the intervening period.

We don’t hate the decision. The Raiders had to go out and get someone to provide backup to Jamal Fogarty – as we’ve highlighted recently – and even idiots like us said, the QRL is a place you can find ignored talent.

I’m not sure what else is available – it’s rare to find a halfback with NRL experience just hanging out hoping for a chance to fit into the supplemental list of a roster. If there is one they’re probably playing Q Cup (it’s like looking behind your fridge – there’s always a spare skill player going around unsigned and unloved in Q Cup) so there’s where you start looking. 

Me

It’s hard to find talent with NRL experience, so while the Milk didn’t come up with the players we identified, we’ll have to trust they’ve watched more QRL than us and are happy with how Cook will fit the club’s needs. He’ll almost certainly spend most of this deal competing for minutes in Cup footy, and even in the event of an emergency I doubt he’ll even be the first port-of-call for first grade, but it’s good to see the club has another option, especially one familiar with Sticky’s unique approaches.

There’s another aspect to this that I’m intrigued by, which comes from his ability to cover multiple positions in the spine. As we noted he’s played five-eighth, half-back and fullback. This has been a focus of the club’s recruitment recently, as seen in the signings of Weekes, Sasagi, and the discussions of the use of Ethan Strange. Cook’s ability to cover one as needed won’t see him play first grade, but it will provide cover for the Raiders to alleviate the pain of potentially playing Xavier Savage and Chevy Stewart in the same (hopefully first grade) team later in the year.

Of course this all could have been avoided if the club had kept Brad Schneider around. Alas the club didn’t seem to see him as a challenger for first grade, and he’ll have more options elsewhere. But last year’s mistakes require this year’s solutions. This won’t change what happened, but it’s a solid pick up to ensure that the worst disasters (i.e. the abject absence of another halfback on the roster) is avoided. They’ve completed the primary task – finding an available depth half with NRL system experience. For now that’s enough.

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