New league coach happy with talent available

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32589, 24 April 1971, Page 14

New league coach happy with talent available

(By J. O. COFFEY) 'THE newly-elected Canterbury Rugby league coach and forward selector, Mr M. L. Cooke, considers that the province has the potential to regain the high ranking that it held a decade ago. However, it was imperative that the best squad be gathered together and retained for the complete representative season, he said. Recent selection panels had been frustrated in their efforts to instill combination and a sense of teamwork into their players because of numerous withdrawals through injuries or for other reasons. Mr Cooke was Canterbury’s captain and loose forward during its most successful period in interprovincial competition. Between 1961 and 1964 Canterbury was beaten on only three occasions and gained its first victory over Auckland for 37 years. “In the era when we reached the top, the

selectors persevered with one set of players and were able to develop a team unit. This can only be done if we do not get frequent injuries and withdrawals,” Mr Cooke said. The initial task faced by Mr Cooke and • the back selector, Mr H. J. Walker, will be to name a representative squad for the Rothmans zone match against West Coast or Otago on May 22. Mr Cooke will be especially watchful for specialist positional players when sifting through the candidates for selection among the forwards. He believes that a player may be moved around within a pack only if the change does not prove detrimental to the over-all performance and cohesion of the team. Prop, hooker, second-row and loose forward each required a different type of game, he said. In each case both scrum and open play would be judged before choosing the composition of the squad. “I think that we have a lot of good talent, particularly in some of the younger players who are coming on,” Mr Cooke said. Once the squad is announced on May 10, the emphasis would be placed on combination and moralebuilding during the early training sessions. Although rated only sixth in the “1971 New Zealand Rugby League Annual,” Canterbury holds the prestige Rugby League Cup and will be required to defend this trophy against Wellington, West Coast, Otago and Auckland in addition to its commitments in the national Rothmans tournament. Mr Cooke should have no difficulty in winning the respect of his charges. His outstanding record for New Zealand—s2 games (including 22 consecutive tests) and 21 tries between 1959 and 1964—still remains fresh in the memories of all but the youngest of the code’s supporters and players. As a coach, his achieve-

ments are also of a high class. Qualified under the national coaching scheme, he guided Hornby to premiership wins in 1964 and 1969 and lifted the Can-

berra (New South Wales) club from the bottom of its league to reach the championship semi-finals in all four seasons that he was its captain-coach.