Cooper right for Roosters opener

Cronk set to cut loose

TRENT Robinson has confirmed Cooper Cronk is a certain starter to make his Roosters debut despite cutting his foot during a beach session earlier this week.

Social media went into meltdown during the week when it was suggested Cronk was stung by a jellyfish during a recovery at Bondi Beach on Tuesday.

Robinson refused to speculate on water creatures, saying his halfback suffered a cut to the foot but is fit to play the Wests Tigers this afternoon.

“Cooper got a cut on his foot at one of his recoveries on Tuesday but he trained on Thursday,” he said.

“It’s a good story, but no he didn’t get stung by a jellyfish. I can’t confirm or deny any animals that were involved.

“He got a cut on his foot, but he’ll be fine.”

Robinson said Cronk had been a “pleasure” to work with and could not wait to unveil the club’s plan for 2018 against the Tigers.

He said the former Storm champion had fitted perfectly into the Roosters’ blueprint for success.

“I’ve seen how professional Cooper is and how much of a great guy he is,” Robinson said.

“That’s why he is here and that’s why he has added so much value. He brings the traits and you work to his strengths but you also work to how the Roosters play.”

Following the additions of

Cronk and star fullback James Tedesco, the pressure is on the Roosters to deliver a title.

Robinson dismissed the premiership or bust talk, saying the Tricolours are fully focused on their path to success.

“We’ve got to focus on building our house and that starts against the Tigers,” he said.

“You can promise everything in the world, but you’ve got to build.

“We’ve been focused on trying to integrate the guys to how we want to play. We’ve been clear about getting underway with our style of footy and now we get to start building that.

“We need to get started. It has been a good pre-season, but we need to start playing and we’re as ready as we are going to be.”

Robinson also confirmed the Roosters have signed former Canberra hooker Kurt Baptise.

“We were light on hookers,” he said. “We’ve got Jake Friend at starting hooker, but we’ve got utility positions in our top 30, so it was important for us to fill that spot with a hooker.”