Selwyn Cobbo is back to his best, and redefining what his best looks like, all at once.
The Dolphins outside back was incredible in a must-win Game 2 for Queensland on Wednesday night. Three tries, countless tough carries, safe under the high ball and busy defensively, the 24-year-old drew some of the highest praise one can be afforded in this game after his game-wrecking endeavours - comparisons to Greg Inglis.
And the Cherbourg product, in speaking to Zero Tackle post-match, could not have been happier about it, admitting he pretended to be "GI" as a youngster. The thought that children in his hometown of Cherbourg would wake up in the days after his heroics and emulate them in the schoolyard is his "why".
"I was I was once them [sic] little kids back home," Cobbo said.
"I was wishing I was "GI" or "JT" (Johnathan Thurston) and all them; it inspires me and it keeps me going and it's my reason why I play footy. All the kids back home in Cherbourg, I do it for all of them and especially all my family back there."
While rumours of discontent with his playing time, preferred position and the salary put to him by decision makers at Red Hill swirled with volatility upon his high-profile switch to the cross-town Dolphins, Cobbo refused to allow anyone but himself to take responsibility for the rather unceremonious exit from his boyhood club, when pressed about the rediscovery of his best football in season 2026.
"That was all all me," he said.
"My preparation for games wasn't the best, being overweight and stuff like that, and I don't blame anyone for being dropped. That's all me.
"I learned a lot last year. I'm forever grateful to have been at the "Broncs" [sic] and, and especially for "Madge" (Michael Maguire). But now, I did my time there, and I'm looking only forward with the Dolphins.
"Every team is different. Every team's got their own culture and I'm just enjoying myself. So I guess I needed that change, and it's been good."
While his fitness was a rather obvious and easy focus area, Cobbo also credits the belief Kristian Woolf has shown in him as part of his turnaround.
"I've just been working on my cardio. It pays off, being able to play the whole 80 minutes." he said.
"Woolfie's [sic] just backing me, I guess. He's giving me confidence throughout my game and he's been a good around that area."
Cobbo beamed with joy upon the mention of a return to Suncorp Stadium for the all important decider, while cheekily making mention of the early exit he made from the corresponding game in 2022.
"I'm pretty excited. I've just got to make sure I don't knocked out this time, and yeah, I can't wait for the decider."
Cobbo's Dolphins and their very healthy for and against will look to cement their place in the NRL's top four this weekend, with a clash against a Wests Tigers outfit whose rollercoaster season got somewhat back on track with a victory over the lowly Gold Coast Titans, last time out.
H, we all know that no rugby league player is a Rhodes scholar, and in fact most are incapable of stringing together a grammatical sentence.
So don’t feel you have to show their verbatim discourse with “[sic]” following the term that has cause you to screw up your eyes in anguish. Similarly, it is not necessary these days to encapsulate nicknames in inverted commas..
Standards have change since I (and I suspect, since you) were schoolboys.