Myke Cook
ND Pick # 38 - Sandringham Dragons
From Vic Crow - Draft Camp and Pre Season 2007 screening results
Pre Season: 181.5cm, 79.2kg, 2.96 20m sprint, 8.61 agility run, 13.1 beep test, 70cm vertical leap.
Screening: 184.1cm, 76.7kg, 2.99 20m sprint, 62cm vertical jump, 24.95 repeat 30m sprints
Cook didn't do the agility run and beep test at Draft Camp for some reason. I would assume he got injured during the Camp.
ND Pick # 38 - Sandringham Dragons
From Vic Crow - Draft Camp and Pre Season 2007 screening results
Pre Season: 181.5cm, 79.2kg, 2.96 20m sprint, 8.61 agility run, 13.1 beep test, 70cm vertical leap.
Screening: 184.1cm, 76.7kg, 2.99 20m sprint, 62cm vertical jump, 24.95 repeat 30m sprints
Cook didn't do the agility run and beep test at Draft Camp for some reason. I would assume he got injured during the Camp.
OK, well it's been about five months since I last profiled one of our draftees so I thought I might as well have a look at the forgotten man, Myke Cook. At this rate I will finish these profiles by about December 2009.
Myke Cook
184.1cm, 76.2kg
Recruited: Pick 38, 2007 AFL Draft from Sandringham Dragons
Exciting, explosive, hurt factor. These are the three terms I immediately think of when talking about our new Dale Thomas lookalike. His selection was consistent with the Dangerfield and Jacky selections before him and shows that the club is looking at adding a lot of pace and energy to the list.
At Draft Camp he ran the 20m sprint in 2.99, which is quite a good time. At junior level he used his pace well to his advantage and showed that he doesn't mind carrying the ball to break the shackles in congested situations.
The thing that has impressed me most with Cook is his kicking. He does have a good kick, but what is most impressive is that he's very good on both feet. He's a natural right footer, but is very comfortable using his left, often to good effect. I can't really remember seeing him kick at full pace, but his disposal when running can be damaging as he uses the momentum from his run to get that extra distance. For a small guy he has pretty good range - I'd say a 55-60m kick on the run. Like Dangerfield he can be a 70-80m player - run for a bit, then effective long kick. That's a supremely important skill in modern football.
We all know that versatility is something that Neil Craig gets wood over. I reckon this was part of the attraction with Cook. He's not versatile like Andy Otten, where we're not exactly sure what his preferred position will be. Cook is a midfielder, but he is quite adept as a small forward. It's hard not to think of Dale Thomas because of the physical similarities, but that's what I'm talking about. He really is a midfielder, but can provide a headache to match up on up forward. I've even seen him used as a rebounding defender at times. His defensive work isn't much chop, but he's good in a rebounding role.
More than anything he will be an impact player. I don't think he's the sort of guy we'd be looking at eeking out a solid 25 touch performance. Early days we're much more likely to get is 15 touches with a few of them really damaging the opposition. As he gains more experience he'll learn how to get more touches, but that X Factor that he brings to the table is something that you just don't lose. He'll always be capable of doing the unpredictable and clearly that's the sort of thing we were targetting with our drafting last year.
At times he can be a bit of a sheep dog around the packs and this is probably why he doesn't rack up huge touches. He's not an in and under player, but he does have plenty of guts. I feel his role will be to get a handball receive rather than to get in and get his hands dirty, but he wouldn't be the sort to shirk a contest. Basically, if it's his turn he'll go, but it's better if there's someone else in there getting it instead because he's best suited to having it dished out to him so he can create space himself. His work in traffic is quite good, but I feel he needs to work on his positioning around the packs. He tends to miss out on handball receives from not standing in the right spot occasionally.
His attack on the contest isn't too bad, but there's some things that aren't quite consistent to label him as someone who is hard at the contest. I love his willingness to throw his body in front of the ball and he tends to get a few smothers that way, but he needs a bit of work in making his tackles stick. He's got the right idea when wrapping a guy up, but just needs to execute his tackles better at times.
I'm not really sure what his endurance is like, but he did run a 13.1 beep test at the start of 2007. He must have got injured during Draft Camp because he only has results for about half of the tests and the beeper is one that he didn't do at DC. If his 13.1 is indicative of his endurance then he'll need some work there because that's not too flash, but that test was over 12 months ago so it's way too hard to say.
As Drummond pointed out he has had his share of injuries as a junior and obviously he's not got on the park so far this year, so this is why he's kind of been forgotten a bit. The important thing is to have patience with him while he gets his body right and even more so to have patience with him when he does start playing. I think he'll be a slow starter, but remember he's not likely to be a big possession winner, so for the love of God don't judge him on his stats!
