Cooper Patrick Cronk (born 5 December 1983) is an Australian former professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

footballer who played in the 2000s and 2010s. An n international and

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

State of Origin representative , he played most of his club career for the

Melbourne Storm The Melbourne Storm is a rugby league football club based in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia that participates in the National Rugby League (NRL). The club plays its home games at AAMI Park, and wears a purple and navy blu ...

, though finished his career with the

Sydney Roosters Eastern Suburbs District Rugby League Football Club, known as the Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), Eastern Suburbs. The club competes in the National Rugby Lea ...

, both in the

National Rugby League The National Rugby League (also known as the NRL Telstra Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is a professional rugby league competition in Oceania which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria (state), Victoria, the Austral ...

(NRL). During his sixteen-year career, Cronk won four NRL Premierships (in 2012 and 2017 with Melbourne, and 2018 and 2019 with Sydney) from nine

NRL Grand Final The NRL Grand Final is an annual rugby league match to determine the premiers of every National Rugby League season. It is a major sport event in Australia and regarded as the biggest showcase of rugby league football in the world. Since 1999 ...

appearances. He won the

Dally M Medal The Dally M Medal is awarded each year (annually) to the player voted for as the ' Player of the year' over the National Rugby League (NRL) regular season. The awards are named in honour of Australian former rugby league great Herbert Henry "Da ...

as the NRL's player of the year in 2013 and 2016, the Clive Churchill Medal as best player in the

2012 NRL Grand Final The 2012 NRL Grand Final was the conclusive and premiership-deciding game of the 2012 NRL season. Played on Sunday, 30 September at Sydney's ANZ Stadium between the minor premiers Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs and the second-placed Melbourne S ...

, the Golden Boot Award as international player of the year in 2016, and the NRL's Dally M Halfback of the Year on five occasions.

Early life

Cooper Cronk was born in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Cronk played his junior rugby league with the Souths Acacia Ridge club. He attended St. Laurence's College, South Brisbane from 1994 to 2000, where he was in the school's 1st XV

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

side for a number of years. He was selected to play in the Australian Schoolboys squad along with former Wallaby captain Rocky Elsom.

Playing career

In 2001, Cronk was selected to play

for Queensland and Australian Schoolboys teams. He was then selected to play in the

Queensland Cup The Queensland Cup, currently known as the Hostplus Cup for sponsorship reasons, is the highest-level regional rugby league, rugby league football competition in Queensland, Australia. It is run by the Queensland Rugby League, Queensland Rugby ...

Norths Devils The Northern Suburbs Devils, or North Brisbane Devils, or often simply referred to as Norths for short, are a rugby league club representing the northern suburbs of Brisbane, Australia. The team colours are sky blue, navy blue and gold. They pl ...

team. He quickly established himself in that competition and trained with the Storm Squad in 2003. He scored 37 tries for the Norths Devils in the Queensland Cup.

2000s

Cronk made his debut for the

in 2004, starting as a utility back coming off the bench and playing at and . In the

2006 NRL season The 2006 NRL season was the 99th season of professional rugby league football in Australia and the ninth run by the National Rugby League. The lineup of teams remained unchanged from the previous year, with fifteen clubs competing for the 2006 Te ...

, Cronk won the Dally M ''Halfback of the Year'' award. He also played at half-back for Melbourne in the 2006 NRL Grand Final loss to Brisbane. In 2008, Cronk was called into the Australian test team to replace Jonathan Thurston who had twisted his ankle in training. Thurston later was cleared of injury and played in the test team over Cronk. In August, 2008, Cronk was named in the preliminary 46-man Kangaroos squad for the

2008 Rugby League World Cup The 2008 Rugby League World Cup was the thirteenth World Cup for men’s rugby league national teams. It was held between 26 October and 22 November and was won by New Zealand, who defeated Australia 34–20 in the final in one of the greatest ...

, however he was not selected to make an appearance. When Cameron Smith was sidelined by a NRL Judiciary suspension during Melbourne's finals campaign of the

2008 NRL season The 2008 NRL season was the 101st season of professional rugby league club competition in Australia, and the eleventh run by the National Rugby League. For the second year, sixteen teams competed for the 2008 Telstra Premiership title. The sea ...

, Cronk stood in as captain and captained the Storm in the 2008 NRL Grand Final defeat by

Manly Sea Eagles The Manly Warringah Sea Eagles are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Sydney's Northern Beaches. They compete in the National Rugby League (NRL). The Manly club debuted in the 1947 New South Wales Rugby Football League seaso ...

. In April 2009, he was named in the preliminary 25-man squad to represent

in the opening State of Origin match for 2009, however he was not selected to make an appearance. He played in the 2009 NRL Grand Final against the

Parramatta Eels The Parramatta Eels are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Sydney suburb of Parramatta that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL). The Parramatta District Rugby League Football Club was formed in 1947, and ...

, setting up 2 tries. This title was later stripped due to salary cap breaches. Cronk was named as part of the Four Nations team and played for Australia in 2009 Four Nations Tournament in Australia against

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

as a utility.

2010s

2010–13

Surgery on his groin saw Cronk miss Melbourne's appearance in the

2010 World Club Challenge The 2010 World Club Challenge (known as the Gillette World Club Challenge due to sponsorship by Gillette Fusion) was a rugby league tournament contested by Super League XIV champions, Leeds Rhinos, and 2009 NRL Premiers the Melbourne Storm. Thi ...

. An injury to Johnathan Thurston saw Cronk selected for the 2010 ANZAC Test. Cronk played off the bench as a utility for

in the

2010 State of Origin Series The 2010 State of Origin series was the 29th annual best-of-three series of interstate rugby league football matches between the Queensland and New South Wales representative teams played entirely under ' state of origin' selection rules. For the ...

, playing in all three games. In Game II, he scored his first Origin try. CooperC

He also played for

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

in the 2010 Four Nations. Cronk played in the 2011 State of Origin Series. In Game I, he set up a try for Jharal Yow Yeh in the second half and in Game III, he set up

Greg Inglis Gregory Paul Inglis (born 15 January 1987), also known by the nickname of "G.I.", is a retired Indigenous Australian professional rugby league footballer, who regularly played as a centre, fullback, five-eighth and wing. From 2011 to 2019, Ing ...

as well. In 2011, Cronk also played the tests against

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

at the Gold Coast and Newcastle on the bench. Cronk was part of the

2011 Rugby League Four Nations The 2011 Rugby League Four Nations tournament (also known as the 2011 Gillette Rugby League Four Nations due to sponsorship by Gillette), was the third staging of the Rugby League Four Nations tournament, and was played in England and Wales durin ...

tournament, playing off the bench when the

Kangaroos Kangaroos are marsupials from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning "large foot"). In common use, the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the red kangaroo, as well as the antilopine kangaroo, eastern grey ...

played the Kiwis and England. Cooper Cronk has been selected to play Five-Eighth against Wales, with Johnathan Thurston at halfback, resting

Darren Lockyer Darren James Lockyer (born 24 March 1977) is an Australian television commentator and former professional rugby league footballer. Lockyer was an Australian international and Queensland State representative captain, who played his entire profe ...

for the Four Nations Final. In the

between Australia and Wales, Cronk scored 3 tries and set-up 2 tries for Australia. He also played in the Four Nations Grand Final against England. As of 29 March 2012 Cooper agreed to a further four years with the Melbourne Storm. At the 2012 Dally M Awards Cronk was named the NRL's halfback of the year. In the

victory over Canterbury-Bankstown, he won the Clive Churchill Medal for the man of the match award. Cronk kicked the game and series-winning field goal in the final minutes of the third State of Origin match in 2012. He later said, "To be brutally honest I was in a state of grace at that particular moment. Every sinew in my body came together in one perfect whole. But those who have ever experienced that feeling, and it doesn't happen very often, will tell you it's in a whole other place of experience from the usual ego or vanity that drives my game. So I'm not afraid to own it for what it was." In February 2013, he won man of the match in Storm's 18–14 win over Leeds in the world club challenge. Cronk was also selected as starting halfback for the annual ANZAC Test match between Australia and

Canberra Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...

, playing at halfback for Australia. He also played a key role in Queensland's eighth consecutive series win with a 12–10 win over

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

in the decider, setting up the match winner try to Justin Hodges. On 1 October 2013, Cronk was named the Dally M Player winning by two points in front of

teammates Johnathan Thurston and Daly Cherry-Evans and

Cronulla Sharks The Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks are an Australian professional rugby league club based in the Sutherland Shire of Southern Sydney, New South Wales. Cronulla compete in the National Rugby League (NRL), Australasia's premier rugby league compet ...

five-eight

Todd Carney Todd Carney (born 2 June 1986), also known by the nickname of "Toddy", is an Australian former professional rugby league player who played in the 2000s and 2010s. He played for the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks, Sydney Roosters (with whom he won ...

. He was also named the Dally M Halfback of the Year.

2014–16

Cronk broke his arm in the opening minutes of Game I of the

2014 State of Origin series Fourteen or 14 may refer to: * 14 (number), the natural number following 13 and preceding 15 * one of the years 14 BC, AD 14, 1914, 2014 Music * 14th (band), a British electronic music duo * ''14'' (David Garrett album), 2013 *''14'', an un ...

on 28 May 2014. Written off for the series, he surprised the entire rugby league community by getting himself fit enough to take the field in Game III just six weeks later. Queensland lost the series after losing Games I and II, but in Game III on 9 July 2014 the Maroons routed New South Wales 32–8. On 30 August 2014, Cronk played his 250th game for Melbourne Storm, a feat achieved by only 3 others players at the club. Cooper Cronk 2016

2016 began with rumours linking him to rival

NRL The National Rugby League (also known as the NRL Telstra Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is a professional rugby league competition in Oceania which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria (state), Victoria, the Austral ...

clubs in Sydney, most notably the

St George Illawarra Dragons The St. George Illawarra Dragons are an Australian professional rugby league football club, representing both the Illawarra and St George regions of New South Wales. The club has competed in the National Rugby League (NRL) since 1999 after a j ...

. However, he put that in the back of his head to lead Melbourne to a great start to the season. On 2 April, he scored 2 tries to secure an 18–14 victory over the

Newcastle Knights The Newcastle Knights are an Australian professional rugby league team based in Newcastle, New South Wales that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership. Playing in red and blue, the Knights joined the top-tier competition in New ...

. 15 days later, he kicked a field goal in the 5th minute of

golden point The golden point, a sudden death overtime system, is used to resolve drawn matches in a number of sports. The term is borrowed from soccer's now-defunct golden goal. Rugby league Australia The golden point is used to determine a winner (where a ...

to give the Storm a 19–18 victory over the

Wests Tigers The Wests Tigers is an Australian professional rugby league football team, based in the Inner West of Sydney and South Western Sydney. The Tigers have competed in the National Rugby League (NRL) since being formed at the end of the 1999 N ...

. The Storm won 5 of their opening 7 games. On 26 June 2016, Cronk became only the fifth NRL player in history to record 200 wins (from 289 games) in a 29 to 20 win over the West Tigers. On 24 September 2016, in Melbourne's grand final qualifier against the Canberra Raiders, Cronk became just the 25th NRL player to notch up 300 first grade games. In doing so, he is only the 11th player to do so with the one club. At the annual Rugby League Dally M awards on 28 September 2016, Cooper Cronk was named the Dally M Player of the Year for a second time after winning his first in 2013. Cronk tied with

North Queensland Cowboys The North Queensland Cowboys is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Townsville, the largest city in North Queensland. They compete in Australia's premier rugby league competition, the National Rugby League (NRL). Sinc ...

prop Jason Taumalolo to win. Cronk was also crowned Dally M Halfback of the Year earning the honours for the fifth time in his careers. Cooper Cronk Australia

This was further complemented on 22 December 2016, when Cooper Cronk won the 2016 Rugby League World Golden Boot Award (Worlds best player). The award is decided by a panel of Rugby League experts including

2017

On 4 April 2017, Cronk made the announcement that the

2017 NRL season The 2017 NRL season was the 110th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 20th season run by the National Rugby League. The season started in New Zealand with the annual Auckland Nines, and was followed by the All Stars Match, ...

would be his last for the

, stating he would move to Sydney; Cronk emphasised that this was purely based on family reasons rather than football-related reasons. His then-fiancée Tara Rushton, a

Fox sports Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world. The name originates from Fox Broadcasting Company in the United States, which in turn derives its name from Fox Fi ...

presenter based in Sydney, was the main driver behind his decision. On 30 October 2017 it was announced that he would join the

for two seasons. Cronk and Rushton married on 14 December 2017. 2018 In 2018 Cooper Cronk joined the Sydney Roosters. Where he played all 26 games, including playing with a broken scapula in the grand final victory over his former club the Melbourne Storm. He then became the first player to win consecutive premierships with two different clubs in the NRL era, having won the 2017 Grand Final with Melbourne and 2018 Grand Final with the Roosters starting at halfback in both games. Cooper also became the first player in the modern era to have three consecutive grand final appearances. 2019 On 28 September 2019, Cronk led the

to a 14–6 win over his former club

in the preliminary final. After the game, Cronk was full of praise for his former coach

Craig Bellamy Craig Douglas Bellamy (born 13 July 1979) is a Welsh football coach and former professional association football, footballer who played as a Forward (association football), forward. He is the current Football coach (association football), head ...

and the

Storm A storm is any disturbed state of the natural environment or the atmosphere of an astronomical body. It may be marked by significant disruptions to normal conditions such as strong wind, tornadoes, hail, thunder and lightning (a thunderstor ...

. "It’s hard because I don’t stand here today without the people at the

,” Cronk said after the game. "Craig’s forefront of that, he’s a guy I’ve played a lot of football for. "It’s really emotional sometimes coming up against your old team but in this game, you really have to put it to the side because there’s always a chance of next week and you really have to ride the rollercoaster sometimes". Winning consecutive premierships is a feat that has not been previously achieved in 26 years and Cronk had the opportunity to create history to become the first player in the modern era to win three consecutive grand final appearances and to have four consecutive grand final appearances. On 6 October 2019, Cooper Cronk played his final game of

Rugby League Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

in the

for the

in the

2019 NRL Grand Final The 2019 NRL Grand Final was the conclusive and premiership-deciding game of the 2019 National Rugby League season and was played at Sydney's ANZ Stadium. The match was contested between defending premiers the Sydney Roosters and the Canberra ...

. Prior to his last match, the only thing he had not managed to achieve is back-to-back titles with the same club. He did that, and set the record for three consecutive grand finals in the modern era, furthermore Cronk was the first player in the NRL era to have won three consecutive premierships, additionally is one of thirteen players who have won consecutive Premierships. Cronk was revered by the

community for his achievements within the game, to win four

s from nine games. During the press conference, coach Trent Robinson labelled the retiree the "greatest thinker to ever play rugby league". "It’s hard to explain how great Cooper is",

Robinson Robinson may refer to: People and names * Robinson (name) Fictional characters * Robinson Crusoe, the main character, and title of a novel by Daniel Defoe, published in 1719 Geography * Robinson projection, a map projection used since the 19 ...

said. "I'm a better coach because Cooper is here. We are a better club and a better team because Cooper is here. We asked him to come and do a job and he said, 'I'm going to come, I'm going to get it done.'"I think he is the greatest thinker to ever play rugby league. To walk onto the field and do what he's done in our game – the guy is skilful but my left-to-right (pass) is better than Cooper's. In Cronk's final interview, he laughed 'he had enough'.

Post playing

AFL coaching

On 7 November 2019, Cronk was recruited into AFL club GWS Giants as a 'leadership consultant'. The move was initiated by Jimmy Bartel and was officially confirmed by their coach, Leon Cameron. Cronk was set to begin his consultancy 2019 in preparation for the Giants'

2020 AFL season The 2020 AFL season was the 124th season of the Australian Football League (AFL), the highest level senior men's Australian rules football competition in Australia, which was known as the Victorian Football League until 1989. The season featur ...

Rugby league coaching

Cronk has been employed as a part-time coaching consultant at both the

and

, with his role seeing him mentor players at both clubs.

Media career

Following his retirement from playing in 2019, Cronk has been part of the commentary team on

Fox League Fox League is an Australian subscription television channel dedicated to screening rugby league (both domestic and international) matches and related programming. It is owned by Fox Sports Pty Limited and is available throughout Australia on Fox ...

, where he is seen as part of the broadcaster's on-air panels and analysis.

Hall of Fame

In August 2024, the

announced that Cronk was an inductee into the National Rugby League Hall of Fame. Cronk, who was ascribed Hall of Fame number 124, was amongst eleven male players in the 2024 Class.

Personal life

Cronk married television sports presenter Tara Rushton in December 2017. They have two children, Lennox and Harley.

Honours

Individual

* Dally M Player of the Year: 2013, 2016 * Dally M Halfback of the Year: 2006, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2016 * Clive Churchill Medal: 2012 * Rugby League World Golden Boot Award: 2016 * National Rugby League Hall of Fame inductee: #124 2024

Melbourne Storm

* 2006 NRL Grand Final Runner-up *

2007 NRL Grand Final The 2007 NRL Grand Final was the conclusive, premiership-deciding match of the 2007 NRL season. It was played between the first-placed Melbourne Storm and second-placed Manly Warringah Sea Eagles at Telstra Stadium on 30 September, in front o ...

(Premiership stripped) * 2008 NRL Grand Final Runner-up *

2008 World Club Challenge The 2008 Carnegie World Club Challenge was contested between Super League XII champions, the Leeds Rhinos and National Rugby League season 2007 premiers, the Melbourne Storm. For the fifth consecutive year the English home team defeated their Aust ...

Runner-up * 2009 NRL Grand Final (Premiership stripped) * 2011 NRL Minor Premiers *

Winners * 2013 World Club Challenge Winners * 2016 NRL Minor Premiers * 2016 NRL Grand Final Runner-up * 2017 NRL Minor Premiers *

2017 NRL Grand Final The 2017 NRL Grand Final was the conclusive and premiership-deciding game of the 2017 National Rugby League season and was played on Sunday October 1 at Sydney's ANZ Stadium. The match was contested between minor premiers the Melbourne Storm ...

Winners

Sydney Roosters

* 2018 NRL Minor Premiership Winners *

2018 NRL Grand Final The 2018 NRL Grand Final was the conclusive and premiership-deciding game of the 2018 National Rugby League season and was played on Sunday September 30 at Sydney's ANZ Stadium. The match was contested between minor premiers the Sydney Roost ...

Winners * 2019 World Club Challenge Winners *

Winners * Sydney Roosters Life Member

Queensland

* State of Origin Series Wins: 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017

Australia

Rugby League World Cup The Rugby League World Cup is an international rugby league competition contested by senior men's national teams who each represent member nations of the International Rugby League who run and administer the tournament. The tournament has be ...

: 2013, 2017 *

Rugby League Four Nations The Rugby League Four Nations was a rugby league football tournament run in partnership between Australia national rugby league team, Australia, England national rugby league team, England, New Zealand national rugby league team, New Zealand, a ...

: 2011, 2016

Career Highlights and Awards

* 4× NRL Premiership Winner * 1× Clive Churchill Medallist * 2× Dally M Medallist * 5× Dally M Halfback of the Year * 1× Rugby League World Golden Boot Award Winner * 2× World Club Challenge Winner * 7× State of Origin Winner * 2× Rugby League Four Nations Winner * 2× Rugby League World Cup Champion

Notes

References

External links

*
Sydney Roosters profile2017 RLWC profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cronk, Cooper 1983 births Living people Australian rugby league players Australia national rugby league team players Melbourne Storm players Sydney Roosters players Queensland Rugby League State of Origin players NRL All Stars players Norths Devils players Clive Churchill Medal winners Rugby league halfbacks Rugby league players from Brisbane Australian rugby league commentators People educated at St Laurence's College 21st-century Australian sportsmen