BY DAN

The Canberra Raiders are closing in on a two year deal for Adam Cook, according to the Canberra Times. It’s good for Cook but an intriguing decision from an organisational perspective.

Let’s start with Cook who’ll get his first taste of job security in rugby league. We can only be happy for him in that regard. He’s proven himself an excellent halfback this year, capable of driving a team around the park, good creativity and connection in attacking shapes and a thick left boot that smacks the belly of the ball like he’s auditioning for that weird slap fighting stuff. He’s a good enough defender for a half, particularly if he’s the only target in the line. If he’s a second half then it gets messier.

After bouncing around a bit it’ll be nice for him to get a permanent spot for a bit. Two years at what presumably is pretty minimal outlay for the club also seems a good deal in a vacuum (oh look it’s me in a vacuum vrmmm vrmmm I’m in me mum’s car…ok that got weird). Cook looks a solid if less exciting facsimile of Fogarty. Picking up halves capable of playing first grade isn’t to be sneezed at, and given how the Milk came into 2024 with potentially one half, to leave it with potentially five is a surprisingly turnaround.

We should also remind ourselves that just because Cook came from a different path without the ballyhooing of other players there’s no reason he can’t be elite. I’ve enjoyed much of what he’s done as an out-and-out seven, particularly playing alongside a regular six rather than another seven. Maybe he can be elite? What do I know? – I got distracted by someone holding a Harry Potter wand on the footpath today and nearly walked into traffic. He’s still only 23. He’s not yet a finished product himself.

The non-vacuum intrigue of this deal is just what role is the club seeing for Cook. Do they project him as a starting half? They did the same for Ethan Strange six months ago, upgraded him to pay him like an elite one and now seem intent on doing to avoid playing him there. Do they seem him as someone who plays alongside Fogarty? In which case they evidently haven’t watched the last few games – Cook and Fogarty’s skills were duplicated, and one spent the other watching the other go to work like a kid handing Dad a spanner and standing there because he’s “helping”. Is he ahead or behind Ethan Sanders as a lead half behind Jamal Fogarty. They’ve signed up to pay Sanders good money and promised big minutes to get him here. Is the emerging star going to be happy to sit behind Cook a few years ahead of him in the development pathway when opportunities will be available elsewhere?

In all likelihood this is more Stick’s tendency to make pursue his competition philosophy when faced with imperfect options. The idea is to collect talent and let them sort it out. This is a fine approach but can diffuse responsibility from the coaching staff to turn identified talent into the products they are being paid to be. Strange is being paid to be a six. Ethan Sanders is coming to town paid to be a starting seven, next in line after Fogarty. Giving Stuart his safety option in Cook may absolve him of the responsibility of turning Strange and Sanders into what has been promised.

But again, we may be getting ahead of ourselves. Cook may simply be getting the Sam Williams/Matt Frawley memorial coach’s award for the half that did things the right way. He may sign this deal and whittle away his time as the fourth half option, mostly playing Cup, pushing everyone to be better without Sticky using him as a weapon to beat Sanders and Strange with. This may not even be a two year deal. Instead the dreaded one-and-one option deal that plagues so many of our rosters (and is why Hohepa Puru might leave goddamnit).

Time will tell as the details come out.

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Feature image courtesy of Getty