“We had a kick-off”: Rabbitohs reveal when call was made on goal kicking change
Damien Cook kicked seven goals on Saturday.
South Sydney Rabbitohs’ interim head coach Ben Hornby has revealed a kick-off during the week was behind Damien Cook’s elevation to the kicking tee on Saturday afternoon.
Coming after goal kicking cost South Sydney their last game against the Dolphins, Cody Walker revealed he didn’t want anything to do with goal kicking heading into Saturday afternoon’s heavy 42-28 win over the Wests Tigers.
“I didn’t go near the kicking tee this week,” Walker said during the post-match press conference.
Elaborating further, Hornby revealed Cook won a kick-off to take the tee, while also adding his performance in the centres had been excellent for the club during the game after Richard Kennar was taken out early in the contest with an injury.
“Cody handed it over, so then we had a decision to make. We had a bit of a kick-off early in the week, and Cookie won it, so we went with him,” Hornby said.
“It was so important, and playing in the centres as well was massive for us. Lose a centre, to be able to put Cookie out there, he does a great job for you. It was fitting for his 200th South Sydney game.”
Hornby revealed Cook had been kicking at training in recent weeks and wanted to take over after Walker elected to stop kicking.
“He was kicking with the rest of the boys, but Cody [Walker] had been kicking well at training, but Cookie wanted it. That’s part of goal kicking as well, so we thought it was a great chance to get him out there and have a cook,” Hornby said.
It was thought that Michael Chee-Kam would have moved into the centres during the game against the Tigers when Kennar was taken out of the contest, but Hornby said Cook’s speed makes him a solid candidate to play in the centres.
“He has practised there a little bit, but mainly Cookie’s speed. His speed out there is really handy for us. Sometimes you can make a little bit of a mistake, but if you have speed, you can cover it. I don’t like changing our back-rowers too much if I can avoid it, and obviously we have Pete [Mamouzelos] on the bench to take Cookie’s spot,” Hornby said.
South Sydney likely needs to win six of their final seven games to have a chance of playing in the finals.
