CRONK NOT THE SAVIOUR
QUEENSLAND halfback Cooper Cronk refuses to consider himself the Origin saviour.
But when you’ve twice won Origin games off your own boot with a field goal and when every Maroons defeat in the past two years has occurred without you on the field, it’s clear you’re the man.
“I doubt that ( saviour) is true but hopefully it plays a part next Wednesday night,” Cronk said.
“I’d like to think the way I play the game helps others play their best football.
“A little bit of communication helps out players but whether that’s ( saviour) true or not I don’t really buy into that at all.
“The fact is you play your role within the team and you doing that helps someone else do their job. I do that every day of the week whether it’s here, for Australia or for Melbourne Storm.”
The way Cronk sees it, his job description is to de- liver the big moments when it matters. It’s no more or no less important than the role each of his 16 teammates will play at Suncorp Stadium on Wednesday night.
“To be fair, I’m going to play it down because it doesn’t rank any greater than scoring a try or making the tackles. Because that’s the job,” Cronk said.
“My job is kicking; Cameron’s job is making tackles and he will probably make 60 next Wednesday night. Greg’s job is catch- ing bombs. Every moment is vital; every small moment is so crucially important in the big games. I’ve always believed that whether it’s a grand final or an Origin decider.
“The smallest part of the games become extraordinarily important. We’ll practise to do all those things right. May the best team win on the night.”
The fact Cronk is back is sweet relief to the Maroons. He suffered a knee injury on June 6 and just over a month later he will play for the first time in an Origin decider.
To everyone else it’s incredible Cronk will play just four weeks after surgery, for him it was just a challenge to beat whatever recovery time frame was issued by the specialists.
“When someone gives you a time frame and it’s right on the edge you want to push the boundaries. If people say ice your knee every hour, I do it twice,” he said. “If someone said stretch four times, I do it five times.”