The St George Illawarra Dragons are on the lookout for younger options at dummy half, with Damien Cook admitting he was "filthy" for a number of weeks after being told his contract wouldn't be extended.
Cook was well into negotiations with the club over a contract extension during the opening weeks of the season, but in the surest sign the Dragons were preparing to turf head coach Shane Flanagan, a hiring freeze for internal contracts was put on the club before Cook could re-sign.
Within a fortnight of that decision, the Dragons had axed Shane Flanagan and were looking to promote youth, with the club debuting Kade Reed on Anzac Day and looking to their young group of forwards as the future.
The Dragons, who have also been aggressive in recruitment away from the club, signing Keaon Koloamatangi, Phillip Sami, Scott Drinkwater and just this week Luke Metcalf, decided Cook wasn't part of their future plans in the same time line, and the hooker said it was for the club to look for a couple of younger dummy halves, and that he moved quickly once being told the same thing by the club a couple of times.
“Recruitment made it clear that they're on the lookout for a couple of younger hookers,” Cook told the Sydney Morning Herald.
“We asked a few times and sort of got the same response, so I had to let my manager know that we were going to have to look elsewhere and try and find something. Then next thing you know, Ryan Carr reached out.
“I just saw it as a really good opportunity to change it up, take the family over there and go on a bit of an adventure. Carry's sold ‘Cas Vegas' [a nickname for Castleford] to me.
“The best thing is that I've made a decision now, and I get to really enjoy this last year with the Dragons.”
Cook made his NRL debut at the Dragons before spending time away from the joint-venture, but will now finish his career in England while handing over the red and white number nine to Jacob Liddle.
The dummy half said he wanted to sty and was left unhappy with the decision immediately, but understood the business side of the decision.
“I definitely respected the business side of the thing, but obviously because I was involved in it, emotionally invested in it, there were definitely a tough couple of weeks where I was filthy at the decision," the veteran former representative dummy half said.
“I obviously wanted to stay – you'd love to stay here. But the decision's been made now and I'm actually really excited about it. I'm happy that the future's been sorted and I can really rip in and do whatever I can to make sure this club finishes off the season well.”
Cook will again start for the Dragons on Sunday evening in the final match of magic round when the winless club face the red-hot Penrith Panthers in what, on paper at least, shapes as one of the most one-sided matches in recent history.
