barham red wrote:Been thinking about this a bit and tried to evaluate this from JM's point of view. So thinking what if -
Say that its true what a few people are saying that Matt Cook said in the bar after the match, he asked to be brought off after his 15 min spell in the 2nd half. Then I can see why JM isn't picking him week in week out. Yes he plays well when he comes on but 15mins a half is very poor for a 2nd rower, in fact I'd say its unacceptable for a player of Cooks age.
I'm expecting a barrage of replies saying he doesn't get game time to improve fitess but surely playing in the U20's is game time to improve general fitness.
Also if he is asking to come off is that letting the rest of the team down, shouldn;t he play until he's dead on his feet, insist on being kept on the pitch, not asking to come off.
So MAYBE JM has told him to work on his fitness, get more minutes in but he just isn't cutting it?
I don't think fitness is an issue for Matt Cook and he could probably play the full 80 minutes if he had to. I don't know what he said in the bar after the game but Matt Cook did definitely not want to come off after he scored the try that effectively won Rovers the game. He was clearly buzzing when he scored but showed negative body language when he came off and trudged along the touchline as if he had no interest at all.
