INJURY BLACKHAWKS’ BEST BACK FROM Fullback plans to pile pain on Cutters

WHEN versatile Blackhawks under-20s fullback Adam Cook puts himself near the ball points just seem to follow.

That’s the view of coach Dave Elliott after Cook was named the club’s under-20s player of the year heading into today’s must-win semi-final clash with the Mackay Cutters at Jack Manski Oval.

Cook has been the architect of Townsville’s charge to a second-straight Queensland Cup Colts minor premiership as the leading point scorer in the competition.

The Charters Towers product spent most of his time in the halves, where he played in last year’s grand final, before a late-season shift to fullback after the young Blackhawks were hit by injury.

Cook missed his first game of the season in last weekend’s 24-4 semi-final loss to Sunshine Coast with a minor hamstring strain and Elliott felt it showed just how valuable he was to the team.

“I think his composure, his leadership, and his organisation around the team has been really good all year,” the coach said.

“He’s got a real team-first and selfless attitude about his footy. When I asked him (to move to fullback) he just jumped straight into it because he knew that we needed to put someone there and I thought he’d do a good job. Wherever he’s playing for us, when he’s putting himself on the ball things seem to happen around him.

“He’s been a massive cog in our team and hopefully we can win a few more footy games and get ourselves to a grand final as well.”

Cook will return to the side today along with centre Daejarn Asi and backrower Nathan Barrett, who both played for the senior Blackhawks in last weekend’s 20-12 semi-final win over Sunshine Coast.

The Blackhawks under-20s have plenty of room for improvement after conceding 20 unanswered points in the second half of their semi-final loss to the Falcons.

Mackay is coming off a superb 23-10 road victory over Tweed Heads, but Elliott was confident his side was up to the challenge in the North Queensland showdown.

“Everyone says it’s a different beast with finals footy and everything’s on the line, but we have proven to be very consistent,” he said.

“I’m sure that we can turn things around and get the right result this weekend.”

The Blackhawks under-20s made Jack Manski Oval a fortress this season and Elliott hoped they would have a strong home crowd behind them today.

• Kick-off at Jack Manski Oval today is at 2.30pm.