By Seb Candido
After a sublime 2018 season, Damien Cook enters 2019 as the most expensive player in the game. However, his price, coupled with the fact that he has a new coach, have caused much uncertainty as to whether to own Cook from round 1.
Here are what we believe to be both the negatives and positives attached to going with Damien Cook from round 1 in NRL SuperCoach.
Negatives:
· He’s the most expensive player in the game, taking up nearly 10% of the salary cap.
· Due to his high price, Cook will probably drop in price early in the season. Unless he averages around 78 PPG over the opening few rounds, you should be able to pick him up for cheaper a bit later in the season.
· The Rabbitohs have a new coach in Wayne Bennett. It is not yet completely clear how the so called ‘SuperCoach killer’ wants his side to play in 2019, and we don’t yet know his plans for Cook.
· Averaging 77.6 PPG in 2018, Cook is coming off a career best season. Traditionally, players usually see a drop in average PPG after this career best SuperCoach season.
Positives:
· He will almost certainly be the top scoring hooker again this season – and by quite a long way too.
· Unless he completely stinks it up to start the season, Cook won’t drop in price that much. If he averages 70 PPG over the opening six rounds, he will only drop 60k. That 60k discount probably isn’t worth it when you consider the points you will miss out on.
· Wayne Bennett is not a SuperCoach killer – that is a myth. See Rob Sutherland’s article.
· Bennett’s back up hooker, Matt McIlwrick, will by all reports be an Eels player by round 1. Unless Bennett wants to blood youngster Billy Brittain, Cook will almost certainly be an 80 minute hooker again this season. He has registered PPMs of 0.91 and 0.98 in the past two seasons, so an average of 70+ is definitely achievable again this season should be continue playing 80 minutes.
· Cook averaged 50+ PPG in pure base last season. So, around 55 points is a bad day for Cook. No other hooker in the competition has as high a floor as Cook does.
· It’s significantly easier to start with Cook and downgrade him if he doesn’t perform, than it is to start without him and desperately try to fit him in if he starts the season on fire.
I, for one, will definitely be starting the season with Damien Cook in my side. Will you be?
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